Letter to the Editor: Goodbye to the Great West Café

The demolition of the Great West Café created dust and precious memories of the past for all of Eston. We saw the café go through renovations and upgrades from the original booths and a counter with stools to its final days.

The Great West was the first restaurant I remember having a meal in at 8 or 9 years old. I had halibut and have often wondered how in 1950 such a delicious fish got from the ocean to Eston.

As a high school student, I remember the trek after school through the rear entrance and the kitchen into the back booths for overflowing plates of French fries smothered in ketchup, shared along with a six ounce Coca-Cola. At night you hung around the front entrance perched on a stool looking out the window.

Later it was a location to take your date to and then became the place to take the kids for a meal.

From the menu printed from a gelatin pad you got to choose from a wide variety that included sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, fish and chips and steak. All were delicious, and who could forget the perennial "Cream of Corn Maryland" soup?

The friendly atmosphere provided by Wayne, Pinky, Lena and Jack Mah made you feel at home as they warmly greeted you. They knew all your kids by name, and I remember Jack and I comparing station wagons when he bought an Oldsmobile and I had a Buick.

As we mourn the loss of the café we need to reflect on how fortunate we were that Eston had the Great West and that Wayne and Jack Mah chose to live and raise their families in Eston. Main Street in Eston is missing another icon!

Gary Johnson
Eatonia, SK