Maps  |  Bala

Bala is a community located in Muskoka Lakes Township where Lake Muskoka drains into the Moon River.

It is considered one of the hubs of cottage country located north of Toronto. Thus, its year-round population of several hundred is swamped by thousands of seasonal residents and day-trippers. It is known as the Cranberry Capital of Ontario, and was once the smallest incorporated town in Canada.

History

It was settled by Thomas Burgess in 1868. He named it after the town of Bala in Wales with which it is officially twinned. Located on the Canadian Shield, it proved unsuitable for farming and its fortunes declined as logging became less economically viable.

In 1914, the town incorporated with Burgess’ son as the first mayor making it the smallest incorporated town in Canada. Three years later, a small hydroelectric dam was set up on the river. Muskoka Road 169 still traverses the top of the dam. The town was large enough to be served by the Ontario Provincial Police. In 1971, the town was amalgamated with other townships and municipalities to form the Township of Muskoka Lakes.

During the 1960s, before the trend to private cottages, Bala offered summer lodging at various tourist resorts. On River Street were Bala Cozy Cabins and Roselawn Lodge.

Bala Cozy Cabins was a 16-cabin resort, run by Julius and Helen Hueniken. The cabins were laid out in an L-shape, and the big central lawn was an active place for families playing croquet, horseshoes and badminton. The beach featured a beautiful view of the Bala Falls on Moon River.

Culture and Entertainment

Since 1942, under various management and names, the community and the surrounding area was offered live musical entertainment. In the 1940s and ‘50s, Big Bands like Mart Kenney, Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman and Louis Armstrong played at Dunn's Pavilion. Since the 1960s, rock musicians like David Wilcox, Kim Mitchell, The Ramones, April Wine, Burton Cummings and Jeff Healey played at The Kee to Bala, as it had become then. More recently, bands such as Sum 41, The Tragically Hip, The Sam Roberts Band, Hinder, Finger 11, Three Days Grace, Sloan and Theory of a Deadman graced the stage at The KEE. In the 1980s, Bala and Port Carling were also featured in a hilarious skit by The Frantics on Boot to the Head. In the skit, a man on his way to Bala bores his companion to distraction in part by endlessly enumerating the communities' features.
Bridge over the Moon River

Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables books, visited Bala in 1922. The area made a sufficient impression on her that she based the novel The Blue Castle on the area, her only novel not located in PEI. Based on this connection to a beloved Canadian author, Bala's Museum, a privately run museum featuring L.M. Montgomery, was opened in the 1990s.

Bala maintains a link with its agrarian past by hosting the Bala Cranberry Festival each fall on the weekend after Canadian Thanksgiving. Other notable sources of food are Don’s Bakery, which has sold delicious bread, pastries and cookies for decades. Don's is famous for scones and people drive through Bala specifically to purchase them. Many people also put in larger orders to take home to their freezer for a reminder of summer in the winter months when the bakery is closed.

Once a week in the summer months, students from a nearby water ski school perform aquatic stunts for audiences at a local park. Students form pyramids, jump obstacles, ski barefoot, and, on occasion, ski while wearing alpine skis.

 This information is provided by the WikiPedia, the original article can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bala,_Ontario

Map of Bala