Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/9/2016 (2077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Life as a teenager in Brandon in the 1960s consisted of fun at the roller rink, community centre dances, the drive-in — no cellphones, no Internet, just friends to occupy your time.
A group of approximately 100 women who were teenagers in the ’60s will celebrate those special friendships, and talk about the good old days this weekend, as the 1960s Brandon Girlfriends come together for their fifth gathering.
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A photo of the 1960s Brandon Girlfriends at the last gathering in 2013. The fifth gathering takes place this weekend.
"We laugh, we dance, we cry, we reminisce about yesterday, we talkabout today, and we thoroughly enjoy our altogether-too-short weekendtogether," said organizer Donna Hogeland.
"Everybody will know somebody. We may not know everybody that’s coming, but by the end of the weekend, we’ll have established a new bond with everybody that was there."
Back in the ’60s, Brandon had no Shoppers Mall, no Town Centre, but there was the Prince Edward Hotel, where many young girls — including Hogeland — worked part-time as banquet waitresses. Hogeland recalls Brandon being "one big neighbourhood" back then. Children and teenagers were involved in many different groups, such as the YMCA and Brownies, so they were able to meet many other peers in their age group.
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Donna Hogeland, who spearheaded the 1960s Brandon Girlfriends gatherings, is seen in her Grade 12 photo when she was a student at Neelin High School (Class of 1969).
Hogeland still has friends from Grade 1, and believes the friendships were able to remain intact all these years due to the bond they created way back when.
"We didn’t have the technological distractions, play was play," she said. "We walked everywhere, you walked downtown, you walked back home. It just seemed we walked everywhere, nobody had cars."
The fact that the 1960s was a decade of change, also created strong bonds — the girlfriends can look back on living through significant points in history.
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A touching aspect of the 1960s Brandon Girlfriends Gathering is the Heartprints Remembrance table, where the names of 191 women who have passed away will be displayed on classic 45 records.
"Transitioning from the ’50s to the ’60s was more from an age of innocence," Hogeland said. "Rock and roll had really just come in, in the late ’50s with Elvis Presley, so music was changing."
She recalled how dancing styles changed from the traditional partners to groups, with the introduction of Chubby Checker’s famous song "The Twist." The Beach Boys, the Everly Brothers became popular in the ‘60s, and of course — The Beatles.
"I clearly remember watching our black and white TV on Sunday night, when The Beatles first played on The Ed Sullivan show," Hogeland said. "The girls in the audience were screaming. I remember sitting on the sofa, jumping up and down screaming."
A group photo of the 1960s Brandon Girlfriends, taken at the 2009 gathering. The fifth gathering takes place this weekend at the Victoria Inn.
Styles started to change drastically at that point as well, with the boys trying to emulate the Beatles hair cuts, and in the matter of a decade, girls went from wearing poodle skirts to mini skirts.
Hogeland remembers being impacted by the significant events occurring in the United States — the assassination of JFK, Vietnam war protests and the civil rights movement.
"I remember going to what was called a ‘love-in’ at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg," she said.
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A photo of Donna Hogeland (top row, far right), along with her girlfriends, taken in Brandon in June 1969 on her 18th birthday. Top row, from left: Dee Sholan, Pam MacKay, Donna Hogeland; bottom row: Holly Mason, Donna Dodd, Karen Milne, Janet Cipryk.
Hogeland started this reunion-of-sorts many years ago, with her own close group of girlfriends. For many years she lived in Alberta, and would visit her old friends when she came back to visit Brandon. That evolved to a special 40th birthday celebration in 1991, and then the first big gathering in 2003, which brought out nearly 300 people.
It was organized again in 2006, 2009 and 2013. The common connection is that all attendees were a teenager in Brandon in the ’60s, which meant they were born between 1941 and 1956. Hogeland started with an original database of 240 names, and it has now grown to more than 1,100.
"The years melt away when you get together, and I don’t know how that is for girlfriends in other eras, but the power of girlfriends was very important to us in the ’60s," she said.
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Donna Hogeland, organizer of the 1960s Brandon Girlfriends events, wrote a teen entertainment column for The Brandon Sun in the late ’60s. This is her column from March 1, 1968.
The girls-only event takes place at the Victoria Inn Sept. 16-18, where the theme will transport everyone back to the "flower power" era. Vinyl records, memorabilia, posters and banners will adorn the walls and tables.
To remember girlfriends who have passed away, there is a special Heartprints Remembrance Table where 191 name tags will be on display.
Women between the ages of 60-75 will be coming from across Canada to attend, ranging from Victoria to Ottawa.
"Remembering your youth is a fond thing to do," Hogeland said. "We don’t want to live in it, but to revisit it is what makes it exciting for this weekend, because we collectively have that opportunity to do so."
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