TRUCKERS, HAULERS HONOUR FRIEND JIM BROWN WITH ‘DUMP TRUCK DRIVE-BY’

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

PORT CARLING — If you were looking for a dump truck or big piece of construction equipment anywhere in west Muskoka yesterday, good luck.

Try Hwy. 118 through Port Carling.

That’s where more than 120 of them were on parade through the Muskoka Lakes town in a salute to Jim Brown — a favoured son of the community — who died April 29 at age 66.

It was like a barn-raising — as if a cottage on Millionaire’s Row or resort were being built in a single day. And all hands and trades were on deck.

The road heading west in to town from Bracebridge was lined with well-wishers from 15 kms out at the rallying point at Butter and Egg Road in Milford Bay, as the procession snaked in and along the main street at 20 km/h and out to Peninsula Road.

A five-year-old kid’s dream parade, which had even the adults pointing and exclaiming: “That’s a cool one, really nice ….”

It seemed the whole town came out to watch and participate, waving, clapping, cheering and giving the thumbs up to “Big Jim.”

A sign along the route at the yard of relative Ian Brown read: ‘Keep on Trucking Jimmy.’ A big picture of Brown in a tractor cab was nailed to the side.

The Browns are a well-known name and family in Port Carling and Muskoka Lakes business and social circles.

Many people watching had tears in their eyes — but joy in their hearts and huge smiles on their lips.

Friends and strangers pointed smart-phones to preserve the moment for posterity with photos and videos. Mechanic Jim Hammond took 160 photos alone.

“It was amazing,” Matt McDermott, one of the organizers, told MuskokaTODAY.com

this morning. “It was fantastic to see.”

He and Brown’s nephew Lucas organized the tribute to “a great guy,” said McDermott.

It was an impressive collection of gleaming chrome, hulking dump trucks, commercial vehicles — and tons of love.

“That’s a lot of shine,” said one observer.

The funeral-like cortege was led by one of Brown’s distinctive sky-blue and white dump trucks perched on the back of one of his flat beds.

“It felt like he was here,” said McDermott, adding Brown would have been one of the first people to have joined in the drive-by if it was for someone else in his native Port Carling.

“He would have had a good laugh.”

The convoy of contractors wasn’t just a “brotherhood” of builders, backhaulers and bulldozer drivers. It was a fraternity of friends.

“It’s crazy how truckers are their own little community,” you could hear a bystander say on Bree-Anna Rawson’s live-stream of the ‘Dump Truck Drive-by: a celebration of Jim Brown’s life.’

“Jim was a celebrity. Everyone knew him,” said Rawson, whose mom, Angie, was Brown’s girlfriend.

“This one’s for you, Jimmy. All these trucks are here for you.”

That caring and sharing was best expressed by dozens of drivers linked on channels through CB and two-way radio, as they joked and shared stories beforehand about Brown.

Horn-happy drivers then leaned on steering wheels of their tractor trailers, tow trucks and pick-ups. All of them sounding like freight trains or ships with fog horns that could be heard as far as Rosseau — as they hailed “the end an era” for the small, popular family-owned and run business.

One not unlike hundreds of other independent entrepreneurs whose truck and trade are the spine of a community.

Practically every man and woman in the area with a big or little truck in the industry or related to it joined in. Some had several vehicles, including with the siren calls of ambulances and half a dozen fire trucks (Brown was a former Muskoka Lakes firefighter).

It was a who’s who of local contracting, construction and building in these parts.

All familiar names bearing colours other motorists pass every day on Muskoka highways and back-roads. The trades people most take for granted as the heavy haulers truck in fill and load in the lumber trusses used to build multi-million-dollar mansions, local homes, businesses and resorts.

Family-run businesses like Jim Brown Contracting, Dunc Brown Contracting, Ian Brown Contracting and Brown’s Appliances.

Many of which have the words “… & Sons” labelled on their doors.

Red rigs like those from Josh McDermott and Sons, MDS and Fowlers, yellow ones from P Medley & Sons. Blue ones from Wes Finch.

There were so many other recognizable participants, like the Ledgers and Coopers, Kabota North, Wayne Taylor Trucking, Tire Master, B&B Sanitation, Dockside Welding, Snap-On, Mitchell Tree Service, Paul Donaldson Construction, MCC Indian River, Dean Terry, George Martin and Sons, Brandy Lake Trucking, C&M Contracting, Ted Smith, Morrow Electric, Rogerson’s Land Clearing and Logging and Rutan’s Rock to name but a few.

Who knew there were so many contractors in this part of Muskoka? It was like a rolling billboard, an advertisement for an industry that’s literally the blue-collar backbone of Muskoka.

All of them who knew or were touched by Brown’s business and community spirit.

There were so many participants that cars got caught up in the traffic jam. One van had a load of lumber stuck out the back hatch.

There were even antique cars and trucks, favourites of Brown.

“It’s been a really good turnout,” said Rawson.

A fond and fitting farewell for a fine friend.

See Rawson’s livestream here.

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