New life

A place that once was a community, is becoming one again

If you are looking at the Loch Slow airfield and business park from the outside, you may immediately get the wrong impression. It’s not a perfect property. Some areas are in disarray, and a few of the buildings have collapsed. A first impression from a passer-by may be one of curiosity as to why this heritage property has been left this way. But to get a grasp on what’s really going on, you need to step inside the property and see that this former air base is in midst of a renaissance. One that has been years in the making and one that has both artistic and cultural roots. Some buildings have fallen, but others have been restored and are being utilized in new and exciting ways. To fully understand where Loch Slow is at right now in its metamorphosis, you must know its history, and the journey it took to get where it is today.

In December of 1939, Canada signed up the with UK, Australia and New Zealand to form the British commonwealth Air Training program/ Riverdale agreement. In April of 1941, the site was opened as an RAF bombing and gunnery school that trained gunners and navigators. It was a six- to eight-week course, and usually the men went straight overseas upon completion. It remained a bombing and gunnery school until 1944, when the RAF pulled out and the RCAF moved in. From that point it became a form of surplus depot, where they housed various forms of things used in the war. Hangar three had 36,000 square feet full of bed cots. Planes that were leftover were brought here and dismantled for scrap. Following that in 1946, it housed the Royal Canadian School of Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) who stayed until 1961. That was a branch of the army, and during their tenure they made significant expansions to the property. They built what is known as Macaulay Village, which was the private members quarters, or married quarters. The army also built the Craig Barracks, which is currently a paintball facility. In 1961/62 the Canadian Guards moved in; they were basically Canada’s first United Nations unit. They were at the facility until 1969. In 1970, the mayor of Picton, H.J. McFarland, purchased the site and turned it into the Loch Sloy business park. Loch Sloy is the region where the McFarland clan come from in Scotland.

Edward Klein and Wendy Vervoort are married, and run Side X Side studios at Loch Sloy.

McFarland passed away in 1974 with a large estate, and while Loch Sloy was kept up in some degree, from then until 1999 the property remained derelict and had fallen victim to severe vandalism and neglect. Loch Sloy, over the years and decades, just slowly dwindled away. When it was taken over by the Scott family in 1999, the property had about 10 tenants. Roofs had holes in them, windows were smashed and there was significant decay throughout many of the buildings.

Mr. Scott had trained in Manitoba during WW2 at an RAF site and had thought that not only would it be economically beneficial for our community, but also worthwhile for it’s nostalgic nature to save the site. Loch Sloy is the last war-era airfield in Canada with multiple buildings still intact. That’s when Jacqui Burley’s journey with Loch Sloy begins. Mr. Scott, at 76 years of age and suffering from lung cancer, took Burley under his wing in 1999, mentored her and instilled in her what his vision was for Loch Sloy. Mr. Scott passed away in 2001, and Burley has been running the place ever since.

Currently Loch Sloy has over 60 businesses and approximately 300 storage tenants. Canadian Opera Company is the biggest storage tenants, along with Canadian Stage Company and Festival Players. There is a pallet factory, a modular home company, an aggregate company, auto repair, boat repair, furniture makers, contractors, a yoga studio, artist studios, potters and many more. All run by Burley and a skeleton crew of five people.

“A part of Mr. Scott’s vision was to bring in people who were entrepreneurs. It was an opportunity for them to start a business. We got people in who were willing to take a risk with us and they invested themselves in making their space appropriate for what they were doing. I call it my business commune because these tenants take ownership of their spaces in their minds and in their hearts,” says Burley.

Trevor Mousseau operates a custom wedding dress shop in Loch Sloy. A bright, fully renovated space with its own fitting room in one of the buildings in what Burley considers the “artistic” area of the park. Mousseau came to the County, like many others, to escape the intensity of the city. He had been working in well-known dress shops (Shknk, Ramona Keveza) for 17 years and it was time to make a change. Mousseau and his husband, Jake Curl, moved the County a year and a half ago and even though he knew he wasn’t able to move into the space, he secured it and rented it for months before moving in because it was the right price and he saw the potential. Mousseau gets most of his clients through his reputation and experience in Toronto. He usually has five or six dresses going in various degrees of completion. Mousseau’s dress shop is called Trevor Jay, and it’s open year-round. He says that being here in Loch Sloy feels like being a part of a big family.

“I love it here. Everyone just wants the best for everyone. It’s a like a little gypsy commune, and it’s rustic like one too. When brides come for fittings I tell them to use the washroom before they come because there is no running water. You have to warn a bride if her only option here is a porta-potty,” says Mousseau.

In the same area as Mousseau we find Side X Side Studios, housing a couple who share space in one of the buildings at Loch Slow to pursue their individual passions. The building is lovingly split in half, with guitar maker Edward Klein and his equipment on one side and Wendy Vervoort with her ceramics and other artistic endeavours on the other side. Klein is welcoming and proud of his craft as he is explaining his steps on how he makes a guitar for someone. Vervoort is equally passionate as she speaks of her craft, showing a piece of art she had made from burrs that is complex and looked like a fabric at first glance. The couple’s creative energy is palpable and they are very thankful to have a space like this to work in. For Vervoort, it’s harder to work as a ceramic artist. She requires a constant source of water for her craft, but that is outweighed by the vibe of the place, and the ability to share a creative space with her husband.

With all of this going, the airfield is still home to ongoing military training with the Department of National Defence. The central region Air Cadet program also calls Loch Sloy its home. That program happens every summer from June to the end of August. The program has 90 trainees, usually 16 or 17 years, of age, who walk away that summer with their glider or pilot’s license. It’s also still an operating airfield, with private planes flying in regularly, including some daytrippers and weekend warriors from Toronto Island who prefer to fly in rather than take the 401.

“It feels like a community because it was a community and will continue to be that. The diversity of the tenants offers them the opportunities for them to help each other. Maybe it’s providing materials, maybe it’s providing a skill. We are all there for eachother,” says Burley.