Bluewater Village Resort musicians gather for jam ahead of tribunal hearing
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
For many of the residents of Bluewater Village Resort, the Saturday Night Jam Session, a.k.a. “The Jam”, has long been the social event of the week. For many years, seasonal residents looked forward to arriving in Goderich, opening their trailers, RVs and mobile homes for the season, and heading down to the open-air pavilion to check out the well-known, free-wheeling bluegrass performance put on by the park’s coterie of talented musicians.
Anybody interested in joining in was always encouraged to do so, no matter their skill level. Over the years, the Bluewater Village “Jam” grew from a few retirees noodling around on the edge of Lake Huron to the living heart of the community itself. Not only did musicians from outside the park start showing up on Saturday nights, more than a few residents and visitors to “The Jam” have come just to listen and ended up uncovering some hidden musical talent that then blooms into a lifelong passion.
In the winter months, when the tourist season had come to an end, “The Jam” always carried on, albeit in a scaled-down fashion, in the park’s clubhouse. It was mostly just the permanent residents, doing their thing on Saturday nights. And for a long time, that was how the years went. Bluewater Village was a place with a “vibe” - a haven for the elderly and low-income tenants lucky enough to call the beautiful park on the edge of Lake Huron home.
However, in recent months, the year-round tenants have been coming together for another reason - to prepare for a tribunal date with the Landlord Tenant Board (LTB) to address a park-wide dispute with their landlord, 79681 Bluewater Investments, Inc. Rather than lodge a series of individual complaints with the LTB against their landlord, over 20 tenants have elected to band together as the Bluewater Village Resort Tenants Association with the plan of presenting their case to the LTB collectively. They have a long list of allegations against their landlord, including intentional neglect of the park and fiduciary misconduct.
The tenants are claiming that everything started changing for them a few years ago, when they were informed that the park had been sold to Forge & Foster, a real estate investment firm out of Hamilton. Initially excited about promised improvements to their community, the tenants soon became concerned about what they say was a marked decrease in park maintenance. They also allege that the change has interfered with their right to sell their own homes, their utility bills have been erratic, and they’ve been pressured to convert their land leases from year-round to 11.5 months.
A sense of tension replaced the once idyllic atmosphere of their waterfront community. But not on Saturday nights. “The Jam” became the place where that tension was released.
Then, one day, their clubhouse was torn down. There was talk at first of building a new clubhouse, but weeks turned to months, and the lot where the clubhouse once stood remains vacant. Rather than give up their cold weather musical collaborations, the tenants scaled back the number of people at each gathering, and began holding a “Moveable Jam”, rotating the location from one of their mobile homes to the next each week. As long as unofficial “Jam” leader Betty Fonville Blasdell didn’t end up under the ceiling fan with her stand-up bass, there was more than enough room to make a little bit of music together.
Last year, all the seasonal tenants received eviction notices, and the Bluewater Village Jam lost its beloved summertime audience. But they still play together at the pavilion when it’s nice out. Their numbers are low, and their sessions are shorter, but “The Jam” has jammed on.
After years of anticipating a chance to speak their piece, the Bluewater Village Tenants Association LTB tribunal date fast approaches - it will be happening virtually next week. So it’s no surprise that “The Jam” that went down this past Saturday was an absolute banger of a session. Blasdell received so many RSVP’s, in fact, that there was nowhere in the park capable of holding the sheer number of jammers intending to come - it had to be relocated to a more suitable venue at the last minute. Banjo players came from Brussels, a friend from near Wiarton came out to play the spoons, Blasdell played her bass, and about 20 other musicians came out to show their support with ukuleles, guitars, shakers and Kajon drums. Some of the few remaining seasonal residents made a special trip out to Goderich to add their own signatures to the sound of protest songs like “Help Me Make it Through the Night” and “All Along the Watchtower” and wish the tenants good luck. Whatever the result of next week’s tribunal hearing, it was one hell of a memorable “Jam”.