When Audrey McDonald, a member of the Chestermere Whitecappers Association, heard on the news that Marv’s Classic Soda Shop in Black Diamond was struggling ever since the June floods, she thought it would be a great idea to go and support him to help keep his business going.
Then she shared her idea with her fellow Whitecappers to see if they were interested in joining her on a road trip. “I announced the idea on the way home from Rosebud Theatre with the Whitecappers after seeing ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ because I thought the Whitecappers could be “angels” from the story line of this presentation.”
Everyone was excited about the idea so McDonald planned the trip and on Tuesday January 14, 36 local Whitecappers loaded the Tim Horton’s bus for Black Diamond to have lunch at Marv’s Classic Soda Shop.
Marv Garriott, the owner of Marv’s Classic Soda Shop has said that although the restaurant was not directly affected by the June floods, a large portion of the highway was washed out that connects with Black Diamond, keeping visitors from visiting the small town.
The restaurant has been open for 14 years and is decorated in a 1950’s art deco theme. In addition to original milkshake machine and soda fountain from the 1940’s there is an original jukebox from 1959 that is filled with all the favorite ‘oldies’.
The menu has something for everyone. “We have a world famous peanut butter burger that even made the National Geographic magazine,” shares Marv, who adds that his homemade burgers are gluten free.
“They were a good bunch, and they really made our day by visiting” said Marv of the Chestermere Whitecappers. “The support of so many people from neighbouring communities has been a real blessing and business is finally starting to pick up again.”
“It was a great day and enjoyed by everyone,” said McDonald. “The food was great, and Marv’s is a very interesting place with a lot of displays and pictures from the 50’s.”
After lunch the senior group had time to walk around and browse through some of the shops including a wonderful art gallery that features local artists and story tellers before loading the bus to come home.
Elaine Peake was one of the participants in the day trip and said that she really enjoyed her trip to Black Diamond. “It was my first time visiting the town and I had a very nice time”. She goes on to explain that she was happy that Audrey came up with the idea of the bus trip as a way to offer support to the struggling community. “We can’t all help with flood clean-up but this was something that we could do to help those affected.”
“It was a good neighbour trip and Audrey did a great job of organizing it”, said Peake who has been a resident of Chestermere since the 1970’s.
“I am very thankful that they visited and shared the wealth so to speak” said Marv, “I would like to invite everyone to come visit our town, it really makes a fun day trip.” Marv’s Classic Soda Shop is open daily from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm and is located in Black Diamond, 25 minutes southwest of Calgary.
