Becca Shron – Growing Up in Orillia

When you were growing up, where was your favourite place in Orillia to hang out?

Me and my friends went to Mariposa Market a lot. I think my order there has been the same since I was 9. It’s mac n’ cheese and a white chocolate frappacino. It’s fantastic there. We always sit up at the very top and people watch.

Were there any downsides to growing up in Orillia?

Definitely the disconnect from being Jewish, having no community here that understands it. Small towns, for little kids it’s really nice because it has a community and you feel safe, but for teenagers you kind of feel crazy, you want to go do something fun. There’s nothing fun to do for teenagers here necessarily.

I think when I was a teenager I didn’t really appreciate the small town as much, I was kind of frustrated by it, but as an adult you end up liking it a lot more.

If someone asked you to describe Orillia, how would you describe it?

I would describe it as a hippie arts community. I find that our community has a lot of music going, there’s always arts festivals, there’s always street fairs, there’s always something at the beach. Everything here is all about feeling summer-y and upbeat and everybody here is kind of a bit of a hippie. If you live in Orillia you have to be just a little bit of a hippie.

And there’s so much arts, especially downtown, they support the arts so fully, like I’ve never seen a city that supports the arts as much as Orillia does. There’s so much funding and so much effort that goes into the arts in this town.