A Mountain View Museum exhibit detailing the history of the Public Lunch in Olds was the subject of a presentation by Jim Wong last week.
The former Olds resident returned to talk about his family's history in town and how the restaurant it operated was a centre of the community.
Wong said his great-grandfather came to Canada in 1898 to escape hard times in China. His grandfather, Wong Pond (traditionally, Chinese surnames are listed first) established the Public Lunch in 1918. His father came over from China a couple of years later.
Jim said he has fond memories of working in the Public Lunch from when he was about eight to 10 years old, doing odd jobs around the restaurant. Wong recalled how his grandfather instilled a sense of business in him ó he would often read the columns of market prices in the newspaper to his grandfather ó while his father instilled a strong sense of community in him.
ìIt was just a different way of living. The Public Lunch was an institute a lot of us were brought up in. It was a gathering place for the entire community,î he said.
After attending university, Jim moved to Calgary in 1961, where he still resides. He said big city life doesn't compare to the close ties that are forged in small towns like Olds.
ìThis is where the town ties are so strong. Our heart is in the town of Olds and that's where our home is,î he said.
Wong said he has always had a keen interest in his ancestral homeland and was to visit China this week for the 50th time in the last 30 years. He said China is about to unleash its economic might.
In an interview, Wong said the exhibit ó which is part of a larger one that is touring around Alberta ó provides insight into how the Chinese came to Canada in earlier days.
ìIn the cities it was different. On the Prairies you had to mingle with the locals because there was not an indigenous Chinese population in the small towns and chances were you were the only Chinese community here. There was an assimilation that had to occur ó and did occur ó and in the majority of times very successfully,î he said.
The exhibit in Olds is part of a larger Royal Alberta Museum exhibit travelling throughout the province entitled Chop Suey on the Prairies: A Reflection of Chinese Restaurants in Alberta. The exhibit in Olds is on loan until Feb. 23, at which point it will move to another community museum.
ìEvery museum that it goes to, we have to provide research on our Chinese restaurant in town, and it goes along with the exhibit. It'll all end up at the Royal Alberta in about two years where their curator will begin to go through all this research and develop a more permanent exhibit that will be on display at the Royal Alberta,î explained Michael Dougherty, manager of the Mountain View Museum.
ìWe certainly hope that there will be a portion with the Public Lunch and Wong family in that exhibit,î he said.
The museum is collecting as much information as it can about The Public Lunch and is inviting anyone who may have stories about the restaurant to write them down and put them on the bulletin board in the museum gallery. All that information will go along with the exhibit. The museum also wants to present the information to the Wong family.
There is no deadline for the stories, which can also be e-mailed to [email protected].
