The Orillia Spirit: An Illustrated History of Orillia

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

The Orillia Spirit is a delightful nontraditional local history, with
two major flaws. Firstly, it is printed in the dreaded floppy-rectangle
format, a diabolical shape loved by designers and hated by anyone who
views a book as something to read (as opposed to something to dust).
Secondly, Richmond opens his text with a couple of confusing chapters on
Native comings and goings. After getting hopelessly lost in this topic,
he, thankfully, abandons it.

Orillia is a tourist town in south-central Ontario. While some famous
people called it home (Gordon Lightfoot, Leslie Frost), it is known to
most Canadians as Mariposa, the town lampooned by Stephen Leacock in
Sunshine Sketches. After reading Richmond’s history, I can only
conclude that there must be a long-standing, if unspoken, commitment by
Orillia’s residents to ensure than any modern-day Leacock has ample
grist for his humor mill. Richmond hopscotches through the town’s
history, touching down on the strangest and funniest bits. The
Victorians and Edwardians provided many uniquely Orillian incidents,
such as the town’s premature venture into daylight saving time and the
doctor who could make clouds disappear (yes, “things were a little
different in Orillia”). In the mid-1990s, local politicians added to
the potential humor with heated discussions on garbage incineration and
the Rama casino.

Richmond succeeds in convincing readers there is something called the
“Orillia Spirit.” It’s a can-do attitude, a mixture of confidence,
determina- tion, naivety, and energy. As his work is far from a
conventional municipal history, perhaps it stands as proof that the
famous Orillia Spirit is still at work. Leacock would love it.