This painting of Galt Arena Gardens will be used in the upcoming book about Canada’s oldest arena. The stories it tells are as numerous as the people whose lives it touched. Someone once asked “Why write a book about an arena?” “Well,” I said, “this is not an ordinary arena. The stories it holds are extraordinary.” I hope this painting hints at the magic of the century-old place. Few arenas have more than one name. Galt Arena has three: Galt Arena Gardens, Shade Street Arena, and the Soper Park Arena. It’s where the Toronto Maple Leafs held their training camps several times during the 1930s, including the autumn of 1936 when a rookie by the name of Syl Apps attended his first Leaf camp. Apps, who is buried at Galt’s Mount View Cemetery, had just competed for Canada at the 1936 Berlin Olympics with his friend and fellow Canadian athlete, Scotty Rankine, from Preston. Rankine was Canada’s athlete of the year in 1935; Apps would be named Canada’s athlete of the year in 1937. Dave Menary.
This painting of Galt Arena Gardens will be used in the upcoming book about Canada’s oldest arena. The stories it tells are as numerous as the people whose lives it touched. Someone once asked “Why write a book about an arena?” “Well,” I said, “this is not an ordinary arena. The stories it holds are extraordinary.” I hope this painting hints at the magic of the century-old place. Few arenas have more than one name. Galt Arena has three: Galt Arena Gardens, Shade Street Arena, and the Soper Park Arena. It’s where the Toronto Maple Leafs held their training camps several times during the 1930s, including the autumn of 1936 when a rookie by the name of Syl Apps attended his first Leaf camp. Apps, who is buried at Galt’s Mount View Cemetery, had just competed for Canada at the 1936 Berlin Olympics with his friend and fellow Canadian athlete, Scotty Rankine, from Preston. Rankine was Canada’s athlete of the year in 1935; Apps would be named Canada’s athlete of the year in 1937.
Dave Menary.