In 2016, a new space caught our eye, along with what we thought would be an incredibly exciting opportunity. In the end, it turned out to be more of a learning opportunity than the fancy new venture we were hoping it would be.

The Muskoka Foundry in Bracebridge had just been purchased, and the plan was to turn it into a destination, complete with a brew pub, distillery, marche style restaurant, retail section, entertainment venue…and us, doing our thing in the middle of it all. The building was an incredible old foundry, with a rich history and very high ceilings (like, 50’). We were excited!

As plans got under way, we moved into a smaller, beautifully character-filled section of the building, where we hung our equipment from a fully functional gantry crane (not the last time we’d hang from one of those). We enjoyed taking videos and snapping shots of this adorable space, and reveled in having it all to ourselves.

Yet the joy didn’t last long. As winter approached, it became clear that the insulation and renovations were not going to be completed before the cold weather set in. We were talking about millions of dollars in renovations here, the scope of which we couldn’t even grasp in our inexperienced stage. We were trusting the landlord and biting our nails, hoping that things would work out.

Then the complaints about any and all noise we made began. The retail store beside us not only shared a wall with us, but that wall had those adorable windows every few feet along its length, with no glass panes to block out sound. Despite having made it clear what our intentions were for use of the space, we were suddenly told by the landlord that we could not play music until after 6:00 at night, or any time the retail store was open. This would also not be the last time we were asked to make unjust concessions as seemingly second-class citizens in a space we were paying for.

Meanwhile, we’re pretty sure the retail store owned the rights to one CD with about 10 songs on it, which replayed over and over again every day, all day. Aerial improve to an acoustic version of “Are You Going To Be My Girl” anyone?

Back to the insulation: do you know how hard it is to keep a space warm in December, in Muskoka, with no insulation using a couple gas heat lamps? But our students were resilient and dedicated (really, circus people always are), and they bore with us through that first session until the end of the year.

Finally accepting that this space was not going to get us through the winter, and that we’d made some major errors in judgement in our stupor of hopes and dreams, we began our search for a new space at the end of October. This proved challenging, equally unjust, and totally unfruitful, bringing forth the anger of our landlord in the process, who somehow found out about our intended flight and took it personally.

More on this next week, but we did succeed in finding a new temporary space with an incredibly generous, wonderful landlord who we wish we’d gotten to stay with long-term. As with many things, it came just in the nick of time.

The night we left the Foundry, we had a major snowstorm. The parking lot was not ploughed as had been promised, so while I taught our last classes of the session, Phil shoveled over 2’ of snow from the road to the door so that we would be able to load our equipment out. After the classes were done and everyone had gone home - so there were no witnesses ;) - we climbed, balanced, swung, and performed whatever maneuver needed to get our equipment out of the ceiling without a lift, using a ladder that was too short and spotting each other through the precarious moments. By 11:00 PM, we were free!

This entire experience, although stressful, was not all bad, and certainly not a waste of time. Everything that happens along the path provides a valuable lesson if you are willing to learn, and we picked up many new badges on this one. For instance:

In you’re going to accept promises from a landlord or developer in a case like this, get it in writing, take it to your lawyer, and get a commitment. If you don’t have the means or are not prepared to take action, or even go to court, when promises are not met (and they affect your business/income), walk away.
Document everything and ask questions, even if you feel like you’re being a pain in the ass!
Maintaining a brave face and positivity in leading your community goes a long way, but asking for help from time to time is also wise.

Whenever one of those repetitive retail store songs comes on the radio now, or we hear it in passing, we share a smile and laugh with fondness for lessons learned the hard way.

Lindsay

Our Story: Part 5 - The Foundry