FORT FRANCES — More than 60 people from Canada and the United States walked to the middle of the border crossing bridge between Fort Frances and International Falls on Saturday to meet at the plaque marking the demarcation of the International Boundary Line.
The idea for residents to come together on the bridge started with Mary Watters, a resident of Koochiching County, Minn. She said she came up with the idea and posted it on social media last Monday night, where it took on a life of its own and pretty much organized itself.
“Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., had done this… maybe a month ago, but they just yelled and cheered each other from across the Detroit River, which is really big,” said Watters.
“And then there was a little piece in the Wall Street Journal about International Falls (and) Fort Frances that the gist was how lonely we were for each other (and) what the border was like. And so… I was thinking about Detroit and I thought, well, we can do better than that. And we did.”
Customs on both sides were wonderful, explained Watters.
“Family met family, friends hugged and there aren’t words for how wonderful it was for everybody. And my heart is still so happy,” said Watters.
Once everybody had hugged, shook hands and met each other, she said they held hands across the span of the bridge from country to country and sang, even if they didn’t know the words, ‘We are family.’
“It couldn’t have been a more wonderful day because we need some good news right about now,” said Watters.
Watters has a long history with both countries. Her biological dad was a bush pilot in Quetico and after a divorce, her family built a cabin on Saganaga Lake, leaving all their friends on the Canadian side.
It was through many trips through customs that her mother married a customs officer and ended up in Fort Frances, where she was culturally raised in a Canadian Ukrainian family.
However, she said that after Grade 8, she went to International Falls for high school.
“When I changed school, everybody in Fort Francis, who I knew, called me a traitor and on the U.S. side, they called me Canuck,” said Watters.
“And so I was a teenager without a country for a little while, but I was really at home on that bridge.”
On Saturday, she said she reunited with her best friend, who she’d known since Grade 1, as the first two people to hug on the bridge.
However, the bridge was not only a meeting spot to connect with family and friends but also for allyship and fun.
In the early 70s, the drinking age in Minnesota was 21 and Ontario dropped its drinking age to 18, according to Katherine, a visitor to the bridge.
“A lot of times there would be Canadian folks that would walk us to the bridge because we didn’t want to drive over,” said Katherine.
She said she would come over almost every weekend.
“We would come and hang out, order a drink (and) dance our little tootsies off,” said Katherine.
Not much has changed since then other than the Ontario drinking age rising to 19.
For Gay Lynn Ryan, another visitor, their gathering also meant happiness for the two communities.
Ryan said she crosses the border once or twice a week to visit her family, including her sister, nephew and his family, as well as her daughter, grandsons and son-in-law.
“We all have family that live on both sides of the border. I never ever dreamt anything would ever separate the two communities,” said Ryan.
To revitalize connectivity between the two communities, she encourages people not to let any anger or hatred come into their hearts and keep their hearts open to the people on both sides.
Ryan hopes all the bad stuff will go away with what’s going on with politics.
- With files from Travis Glowasky.
