Archive 023 / Barrie StoryWalks

Take a walk in our city.

There’s the Barrie history you can find on a plaque. And then there’s the mystery of the 900-pound stolen clock.

Barrie StoryWalks lives in the second category.

Behind these local walking tours are two longtime local-history volunteers who have spent the better part of a decade researching, writing, speaking and digging into the stories buried around the city.

One of them is Mary Fletcher Harris — historian, storyteller, longtime volunteer Director of History and Research with the Barrie Historical Archive, former BarrieToday columnist and recipient of the 2019 Barrie Heritage Award.

Mary grew up with the Highland Scottish tradition of the seanchaidh: the person who keeps the old stories and passes them on. It’s a tradition she has carried into her own work — although Barrie gives her somewhat different material to work with than the Scottish Highlands did.

Stolen clocks. Strange disappearances. True crime. Old buildings. People whose lives left traces behind in places most of us walk past without a second thought.

And, apparently, a jail cell inside McReilly’s Pub.

That’s the Barrie StoryWalks version of local history: not a recital of names and dates, but the crazy-but-true stuff that makes you look at a familiar street differently — and then immediately tell somebody else what you just learned.

Even the gate in their mark works that way. Step through it and there’s another Barrie on the other side: older, stranger and considerably more interesting.

That instinct — to look harder at the ordinary places around us — is pretty much the reason the KSC archive exists too.

Archive 023 puts a small piece of Barrie StoryWalks’ work into wearable form.

Product Details

• Archive 023 — Barrie StoryWalks
• Barrie, Ontario — Citywide Collection
• 100% combed ring-spun cotton fine jersey
• Lightweight 4.3 oz. fabric
• Fabric laundered to help reduce shrinkage
• Side-seamed construction
• Tear-away manufacturer label
• Printed on demand

Fit and sizing

This style has a relatively fitted unisex silhouette. Check the measurements below against a shirt you already own.

How to measure: Lay a similar shirt flat. Measure the body width one inch below the armhole, and measure the body length from the centre-back neckline seam to the bottom hem.