Like every community worth its salt, Muskoka-Parry Sound is quick to trumpet its success stories—home-grown or not.

Let’s be fair. With a year-round population of 58,000 and settlement that goes back just 150 years, the gene pool in Muskoka-Parry Sound is--somewhat limited. So when it comes to claiming made-goods as our own, you can’t blame us for stretching things a bit.

Certainly the region has begotten its share of greatness; There’s hockey legend Bobby Orr (born in Parry Sound), medical hero Dr. Norman Bethune (Gravenhurst), singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman (Huntsville) and author and journalist extraordinaire Roy MacGregor (Whitney,) among many others (see sidebar.)

One of ours

But Muskoka-Parry Sound is super house-proud, so a memorable stay here will do too. Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery’s two-week Bala sojourn in 1922 inspired one of the town’s greatest tourist attractions; Bala’s Museum: With Memories of Lucy Maud Montgomery. We like to think of Timmins-raised Shania Twain as one of ours, because here, formative years count, and Twain, then Eileen, honed her stratospheric talent at Deerhurst Resort from 1988 to 1991. And on the rare occasion that “Survivorman” Les Stroud, (from Mimico, ON,) unpacks his duffel bag, it’s in Huntsville. So to us, he’s a Muskoka boy.

If you hang here a piece on your way to the life of Riley, then, don’t be surprised to see Muskoka-Parry Sound adding your name to the home team’s scoreboard.

Courtesy of Muskoka Tourism

By Tamsen Tillson                                                           

Bracebridge, ON                                              

Published on  May 22, 2010

Updated on May 31, 2010

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