Baby arrested during love-in
Image: Screenshot of Mike Bunting captured during his virtual interview with ARCMTL. Montreal, April 30, 2021
Credit: ARCMTL collection. Interview was conducted in Montreal on April 30, 2021 with Mike Bunting by Louis Rastelli, Director of ARCMTL.
Duration: 1:42 min
Michael (Mike) Bunting, former fan of The New Penelope, tells ARCMTL an anecdote about the absurd turn-out of one of the love-ins held on Mount Royal, during the summer of 1967.
Transcription:
Mike Bunting: What do you know about the love-in on Mount Royal?
Louis Rastelli: I’d be curious to know because I heard there were a couple of them.
Mike Bunting: I remember that – I was talking about Gary’s secretary, her name was Maggie something – and she had a baby, and at that love-in we were at, the police tried to bust it up and they arrested her baby.
Louis Rastelli: That’s crazy. Why would they arrest the baby?
Mike Bunting: I don’t know. Because the little bugger was lying around, it probably had no pants on. I mean, it was like a real baby, you know.
Louis Rastelli: You can’t just take the baby away and then…
Mike Bunting: I think they hauled her with her. Her mother worked with a legal secretary. That lawyer was in right away to straighten her up.
Louis Rastelli: So I’m guessing you’re talking about the love-in that I heard was rather brutally broken up by the police.
Mike Bunting: That’d be the one.
Louis Rastelli: Were there bands playing and stuff or was it just the big hangout?
Mike Bunting: There was a band, I remember some music. It was right after there was a big one in Vancouver and around the same time.
Louis Rastelli: I think there was an article in there talking about how the cops busted up the love-in.
Mike Bunting: Yeah they were all on horses and stuff. And that’s really weird, when you think of it now, you know, no one would give it a second thought. It’s a big party at the park.
Louis Rastelli: So you, you say you saw a woman get arrested with her baby. Did you get shoved around?
Mike Bunting: No, nothing happened to me, I don’t know why.
Louis Rastelli: So what was happening – everybody was having a peaceful time of it, and then here come the horses?
Mike Bunting: Yeah, I guess around the stages. Yeah. We were sort of back from it, so they sort of focused on the biggest part of the crowd and they’re just, I don’t know, doing whatever they do to break up a crowd, you know? I don’t think, I can’t remember anybody being hit, like everybody’s was just, you know, did what they were told.