Making Portage Home Again, Part 3 of 4

MITCH MOAR grew up in Portage la Prairie, attending North Memorial, LaVerendrye, Westpark, and PCI schools. He says he enjoyed his childhood. “My main memories are of skateboarding at The Platform and playing baseball every summer. Tobogganing at the dump hill was always fun in the winter.”

In 2004, at 22, Mitch moved to Calgary. “I was making poor life choices as a young adult and thought a change of scenery would do me good. My best friend was living in Calgary, so I moved there to live with him. There was more opportunity for employment, and I enjoy snowboarding, so being by the mountains was awesome. But I missed my family, and I missed the lakes. I missed the humid summers Manitoba enjoys. I missed the quiet life that living in a small town can provide.”

Mitch recently returned to Portage with his wife and young children. I asked him why.

“Alberta’s economy isn’t what it used to be. I always wanted to move back but couldn’t justify giving up my career there. Also, with Covid, my priorities have changed. I now feel like being close to loved ones is much more important than making money.”

Mitch admits to feeling anxiety over this major transition for his family. “I used to always talk about how bad Portage was and how I would never want to live here again, but I have had a change of heart. I still think it can be very tough to be a young adult in Portage, but it can be tough to be a young adult anywhere. This city is all about what you choose to make it.

“People say, ‘the crime is too bad. There is nothing to do. It’s way too cold in Manitoba. The mosquitoes are the size of small birds...’

“Crime is bad in most places around the world. It’s up to us to help that improve. And if you can’t find something to do here, you’re not trying hard enough. Minus 15 and minus 25 both feel cold. The summers here make the colder winters worth it.”

As for the mosquitoes, Mitch agrees, “they do suck.”

I asked Mitch what he’d say to someone who’s thinking of moving to Portage.

“Portage is what you make of it. It will seem like a hole if you don’t give it a chance, but it can be a very nice place if you embrace it for what it is. I have only been back here for a month, it is extremely cold out and everything is shut down because of Covid, but I’m excited that I am home again, that my kids get to experience many of the things I got to as a child. Big city life is great for some, but I love small town living and Portage is definitely just that.” 

COLIN DOYLE was born in Portage in 1983. He attended Crescentview School and Arthur Meighen High School. He enjoys fond memories of growing up in Portage, siting the Strawberry Festival, the Portage Ex, and the big grandstand. He loved hanging out at THE place to be: the mall—listing Long John Silver’s arcade and Top40 Records as his favourites.

“I also spent a lot of my time as a teenager hanging out at The Platform,” he says. “I moved away on June 30, 2002. It was my 19th birthday.”

Colin admits he also took the attitude that Portage was too small, with too few opportunities and nothing to do. “Little did I realize Winnipeg wasn’t much different. It was much of the same but on a larger scale and wherever you wanted to go took you five times longer to get there. As you get older and you find yourself sitting in traffic for an hour trying to get home from work, or finding yourself in the wrong neighbourhood at night, you wonder why you left Portage in the first place... maybe it wasn’t as bad as you thought when you were 19.”

Colin’s first child was born in 2009 and his second, only two minutes later. Beautiful identical baby girls, Lily and Kathryn. “Talk about being thrown into the fire. My apartment wasn’t going to cut it, so it was time to buy a house. Again, you start to realize Portage definitely has its advantages, especially when it comes to the prices of homes in Winnipeg.”

Colin returned to Portage on his 32nd birthday after being gone exactly 13 years. What happened next is amazing, heartbreaking, and beautiful. Check back next week!