GORE BAY—A new calendar focussing on historic buildings in the downtown area of Gore Bay provides a glimpse into its past and what things look and are like today.
“It’s basically a story using photographs and some information about the town of Gore Bay, and the transition from where it used to be and where we are today,” stated Michael Lalonde, of Timeless Photography by Mike. The Town of Gore Bay 2026 Calendar ‘A Journey Through the Decades Layers of Time, Visions of Tomorrow’ is a commemorative edition celebrating the downtown revitalization.
Mr. Lalonde explains the back cover of the calendar reflects over a century of resilience and renewal in Gore Bay. Each image has been restored and colorized from original historical photographs to celebrate the town’s enduring spirit and its timeliness connection to place.”
“I decided a couple of years ago that I wanted to find pictures from the downtown area from years ago and thought it would be neat to see how the town was, and has become over the years,” said Mr. Lalonde.
“It is a representation of the downtown area since the turn of the century.”
“I decided to restore some of the old pictures I was able to find, and from what other people provided, and have some fun,” continued Mr. Lalonde. “And with the town downtown revitalization project, I was interested in seeing what the downtown area looked like in past years.”
The calendar cover displays the downtown at night, earlier this fall after the downtown revitalization was completed. Each month provides a photograph of the downtown area, including after a fire in 1908, the beginnings of the harbour and views of the downtown area, along with information related to the photo.
“I have a lot of pictures,” stated Mr. Lalonde, noting that he has far more photographs than he could include in the calendar. Some of them made it into the calendar and some didn’t.
“It was very interesting to hear the stories I was told by people about what the town looked like and the businesses downtown,” said Mr. Lalonde. “For instance, someone I talked to told me that before the old health food store (which was torn down a few years ago) was called Marv’s Restaurant. It was owned and operated by Marv Woods and teenagers would go there for ice cream; it was like a soda parlour. I’m hoping this calendar will get more people talking about what they remember the downtown looking like in the past.”
Mr. Lalonde pointed out, “I saw a CBC documentary in the 1980s with a Harvey Kirk story on Manitoulin Island and Gore Bay which talked about what Saturday nights used to be like in Gore Bay. If not for the Swing Bridge and roads being developed across the Island the Smith family would not have been able to start a transport company (Manitoulin Transport).”
One of the calendar photos of the downtown street (Meredith Street) is of the downtown area at the turn of the century. Mr. Lalonde said he has not been able to find records of when the Gamey Block was constructed, but estimates construction must have started around 1905. “I saw this photo on a government website,” he said.
Mr. Lalonde said he received a lot of support in terms of photographs and information being provided by people when he was looking to put the calendar together. “A lot of people came forward and contributed greatly, such as Rob White with his postcard collection and Annie Porter who had a lot of old photographs of Gore Bay.”
To purchase a copy of the calendar and reprints of many other photographs that Mr. Lalonde has had printed are available at Artistic Creations (at the Gore Bay Harbour Centre) or by directly by contacting Mr. Lalonde.
