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about

We were welcomed with open arms by the people of Marathon during our visit there.

We spent much of the day with the local historian, Stan Johnson. We learned of the history of the town, originally a small railway community called Peninsula and later founded after WWII as the town of Marathon by the Marathon Paper company in Wisconsin. Stan had headed an effort to save the WWII-era tugboat called The Peninsula from the scrap heap and sail it back to Marathon where it was used decades ago to haul logs for the paper mill. We spoke of the precariousness of Northern towns like Marathon that rely so heavily on tenuous industries like mining and forestry -- after the mine and mill shut down, the population shrank drastically.

We played a music concert at a long term care home there, and had fascinating conversations with the residents about settling in Marathon and how life was in the early days.

We met several of the doctors, who had decided early in their careers to settle as a team and create a community of practice in this town and region which was direly underserved.

Marathon, and Northern Ontario, showed us what things like “community” and “home” can really mean in ways we had never really considered.

lyrics

They founded our town on solid ground
A paper company in Wisconsin
On the canadian shield, Our souls to be healed
By the life that to us was given

What becomes of a town when the houses
were built out of paper
When the industry moves out in search
of cheaper parts and labour

When the mine shuts down when the mill moves out
Will the people stay strong or falter


Buildings were made here by volunteers
Supplies came from marathon paper
The company bell rang from the hill
Signalling breakfast, bedtime, lunch, and dinner

Under the sidewalks made of lumber
Children searched for coins fallen from purses
When any of us got lost in the forest
The whole town made sure that we’d be found
And they still do

What becomes of a town when the houses
were built out of paper
When the industry moves out in search
Of cheaper parts and labour

When the mine shuts down when the mill moves out
Will the people stay strong or falter

Peninsula came home
Home is what you make it
Peninsula came home
Home is what you make it

credits

from The Song Of Ontario, released April 13, 2020

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Matt and Jun Hamilton, Ontario

We are 1st year medical students at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario. From July-November 2019 we are going on a road trip across the province to learn more about the places and people who call Ontario home. We seek to express what we learn, see, feel, and hear in our journey as a musical album, that captures some of the essence of life in Ontario.​
Page Art by Gunhild Hotte. ... more

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