Carol Barrett at left

During my teens, in the war years, I spent two summers working in the Niagara Peninsula as a “Farmerette” which was part of the Ontario Farm Service Force. Students picked strawberries and swayed on 20-foot ladders up in the cherry, plum and peach trees, thinning and picking. We were paid 25 cents an hour and had to pay $4.50 a week for room and board. It was hard work but we had a lot of fun! There were 12 camps in the Peninsula with 20-40 girls in each.

We swam in Lake Ontario and hitchhiked everywhere. Most drivers recognized our OFSF badges. Going to Buffalo was always special and on one trip I spied a spiffy red and white dress that I just had to have. You weren’t supposed to take such things across the border, so I wore it under my outfit and had no problem.

I thought I wouldn’t have a chance to wear the new dress until I got home to Toronto but, much to my surprise, the camp director told me that they were having a Miss Farmerette contest in St. Catharines and I had been picked to represent our camp. My first thought was, “Great, I have my new red and white dress.”

The pageant was held in a bandstand in a park and the farmers brought truckloads of Farmerettes from the area to cheer the 24 contestants. It was such an exciting evening. The judges eliminated half and then reduced the number to five and then to three.

I thought, “Is this still me, parading around in my red and white dress?” I wasn’t at all disappointed when I came second. I was just so overwhelmed by the event.

Of course, there was much excitement when I got back at the camp. One of my friends asked, “Massey, how did you do it?’ I simply said, “It was the dress that did it.” And with that I pulled out wads of toilet paper from my bra amid gales of laughter and shouts of “cheater” but, for me, that dress and that evening were the highlight of my young life.

Carol Barrett, Toronto, Ont.