Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac city morning show. I am your host Elliot Pierre, and we're going to start the show off the same way we start every episode off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. And the fact that you're spending with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hidden with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:21 Oh, she caught me loves and you're listening to the next city morning show.
Speaker 0 00:00:29 Okay. And we're back. All right. We're just going to get to it. We've got a great guest here today. Long time resident business owner, a former Marine, and now running for council. So as you know, I do not introduce them. I guess I let them do that themselves. So then on that note, sir, can you please tell everybody who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 3 00:00:46 Thank you. I'm Gareth Norris. I have been here, as you say, since 1982 longtime resident, and I've chosen to throw my name into the hat for ward one.
Speaker 0 00:00:56 Okay, nice. Now, before we talk about, uh, you running for council, there's local businesses that you own businesses that let's give that a little bit of a
Speaker 3 00:01:03 Yeah. Patty mix Wiggins. Yeah. Up in thick wood. That's awesome. Been there a long time now.
Speaker 0 00:01:08 Yeah. It's a great, great bar and restaurant Fort McMurray. It's a, it's a landmark it's been here for
Speaker 3 00:01:13 It is their thing. And we appreciate that. That's because of the community really? I always say I built a building and the, and the community gave it up.
Speaker 0 00:01:21 Yeah, really. So now with this business, like you're extremely busy over and we can talk about what has transpired over the last few years because of COVID flood. So on and so forth. You're a very busy man trying to operate in a pretty volatile industry right now. Why did you decide to potentially put more on your plate and run for council?
Speaker 3 00:01:41 The question for the last couple of weeks? Um, I truly believe that it's time for a rethink of how we're operating as a city. Um, I think we need some fresh blood, some new ideas, um, nothing against the people that have been in there. Cause that's not an easy job. No, you're putting yourself literally in the cross hairs. Right. Um, and there's no easy decisions. Nothing's going to be easy about it. That's right. Um, but I just think I can bring a different energy, a different experience. Um, you know, of the 24 candidates running the diversity's incredible. The experiences are incredible. I think it's time for that new sort of perspective on how the city operates. Okay. Okay. I want to be here 20 years from now listening to my grandchildren wine.
Speaker 0 00:02:25 Nothing to do. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 00:02:27 Here's the a hundred things you can do.
Speaker 0 00:02:30 The community has changed dramatically over the last, since the eighties and what you can do. So yeah, when kids say, oh, there's nothing to do. I'm like, wow, you should've been here in the eighties. And the nineties, there was really nothing to do. So you had the woods
Speaker 3 00:02:46 And the threat of chores too loud. That's
Speaker 0 00:02:49 Right. So what initially brought you to Fort McMurray?
Speaker 3 00:02:52 My parents actually moved here from the UK, so I turned 14 as I got here. So I'm not the greatest time in your, to move, especially to a different country. And to be honest, I did not like Canada at first, but because of what I left, I didn't understand. So it wasn't until I was older, went back to the UK as an adult. And then I was very grateful to my parents for the opportunities here.
Speaker 0 00:03:14 Incredible. Incredible. What part of the UK
Speaker 3 00:03:17 Or Wales? So born and raised in Cardiff. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. And ended up with an Irish pub, which always helped me. Me, my dad shake his head.
Speaker 0 00:03:25 Yeah. Well, that's my next question for you. So you moved to Fort McMurray and like when you graduated high school, you must've been doing things prior to like opening Patti mix weekends.
Speaker 3 00:03:36 Well, I dabbled in a few little things, but nothing major. Just kind of play with different ideas. Nothing. That's stuck, stuck, stuck.
Speaker 0 00:03:41 It's stuck. Yeah. So what got you into the bar industry? How did that transpire?
Speaker 3 00:03:45 It's it's weird. Actually friends of mine had opened the bar downtown. If you remember after a sport back in the day. Yes. Yes. So, um, they were looking to sell it. Um, we debated myself and a couple of friends from the fire hall. That's where I was working at the time. And some mutual friends considered buying it and it just didn't work out. It kind of fell through, but it put it in my head. Right. So when the opportunity for the space, the patties is in became available. A couple of us that were still throwing the idea around, made it happen. That's awesome. It wasn't anything. That was a plan. It was just sort of one of those. Hey, you know, it'd be cool. And I think, I know at the time I thought I knew what I was doing. Cause I grew up in pubs in the UK. My kids were in the pub trade. So little did I know all the advice they gave me was correct. But as you do, yeah. Completely ignored it.
Speaker 0 00:04:32 Exactly. Yeah. Okay. So when you opened this, like, cause Patty's was opened before I was legal to go in. So when did you,
Speaker 3 00:04:41 The 88, October 98. This is actually a 23rd year this,
Speaker 0 00:04:46 Wow. Okay. And so like you said, you're from Wales, like why the Irish public, like how did that stick? Cause you can open tons of different bars, sports bars.
Speaker 3 00:04:56 And then he thought about a bunch of different concepts. Irish pubs are kind of timeless. Um, you know, everybody associates an Irish pub with a good time and it's easier to market a person. So that's why we created Patti mix Wiggins as a physical entity, but the story behind the pub.
Speaker 0 00:05:12 Okay. So there's no actual, I was just going to, you're lining this up too easily for me. So there's no actual Patti mix Wiggins. Like you guys came up and he said,
Speaker 3 00:05:20 Yeah, literally created the name, came up with the legend myself and a friend of mine literally bang that out in about 15 minutes. But uh, it's interesting. Cause I've had people argue with me, they've know I was in Ireland and I know I heard the story. I was like, okay. That's awesome. Thank you. As long as you keep believing that I'm okay.
Speaker 0 00:05:39 So the evolution of that bar, obviously over the last few years is, oh, not years but years that you've owned. It has been tremendous. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:05:45 Yeah. It's uh, it's grown from being, you know, kind of a small pub feel and then it became a real popular place for live music and live bands and uh, packed all the time. And then of course we went through the fire and now we've recreated ourselves again. That's awesome, man.
Speaker 0 00:06:01 No. So now with you running for council, like what do you think you bring to the mix in regards to, well, you've been here for a while. You're you're a local business owner. What attributes do you think you have that'll help translate into a council position?
Speaker 3 00:06:16 Well, I'd like to think my experience in business will be an asset. Um, you know, we look at things very differently. Um, being able to understand and balanced budgets and appreciate that it's not always easy decisions to make. Right. You know, the popular decision, isn't always the best decision that's right. Um, and when we only have so much money, you know, we're, we're working our way towards five and one that's right. Space. That's right. Uh, the glory days are gone of, of, of this. Yeah. So we really need to be in 20 years, I want my grandchildren here and I want to be here as a senior citizen comfortable. Um, so I'd like to bring that experience to the table, the fact that I've grown up here. So I understand the dynamics of the city. I've watched the booms and busts, you know, and there's been way too many. Um, we need to involve stakeholders. I've been fortunate enough to know people at every level oil sands industry. And so over the years I've listened to them and heard their experiences and understand their perspective both as a major industrial component and a resident. Right. Um, you know, I know some that are being transferred to Calgary and not willingly because they love McMurry so much. That's right. And that to me drives me, you know, why do they have to go? Is it a decision based on the industry or is it decision based on community? Right,
Speaker 0 00:07:30 Right. Oh, so it's all your time here. Like he moved here when you're 14. Now you said you, you have grandchildren. Yep. How many grandkids do you have? Two, two grandkids.
Speaker 3 00:07:41 Uh, two girls. I'm surrounded by girls. Yeah. Careful what you fantasize about when you're younger and expect them to all be mine.
Speaker 0 00:07:49 That's hilarious. So what keeps you busy in this community now? So like you cause obviously to transition from a 14 year old to a grandfather and the community in itself in regards to how it's grown so much, like what do you actually do in Fort McMurray?
Speaker 3 00:08:02 Uh, that's a good question. Sometimes. I wonder what I did all day and it's, you know, the days disappeared. Um, the business takes up a lot of time right now. Uh, which of course was one of my major considerations. So, um, Trish, who was my fiance slash business partner, we had to have a very blunt conversation without her backing. I couldn't do this without the backing of my staff because I've got to step back. This is a full-time job. That's right. And I want to commit that time. Yeah. So right now what's keeping me busy is making sure everything's lined up for the business so that when I do step back, if I'm successful, there's not a big void to be filled. So they'll tell you I don't do anything. I'm just buying candy and that's fine too. That's fine. Find another eye-candy to replace me. So
Speaker 0 00:08:44 There you go. I got a question about bars. I want to swing into like, I'm fascinated with bars I could in like it's a romantic thing to think like, yeah, I'm going to open a bar
Speaker 3 00:08:53 Very much. So. Yeah. It's not cheers. I thought it would be.
Speaker 0 00:08:56 And I know myself well enough that like, there's no way I'm going to be hanging out on a Friday night working at a bar, serving alcohol. Like there's no way I'm going to join the party. So I know you have to have like true discipline for it, but I've always wondered when it comes to the types of beers that you have. Yeah. How do you select what you have on tap?
Speaker 3 00:09:15 That's a very good question. We actually just went through that yesterday because we're going to launch a new menu. Yeah. So we're revisiting the beers we have and the is et cetera. Um, you always have your core business, you know, there's certain beers you've got your domestics, you know, are always going to sell what lights you Canadians, those sort of things. Um, as an Irish pub, we wanted to bring some of that European feel that's right. So, you know, we've got the harp, the Murphy's the Guinness and we make sure they are right from Ireland. Yeah. Cause you can buy some brood under license. Okay. Completely different tastes. We don't know if you've had it, you know it, you know, so, um, and then we try and play with the craft beers, try and support Alberta as much as we can. Okay. Um, as much local as we can. Um, we just sort of see what's trending. Yeah. Um, and some of it is literally we just bring in samples and sit with the staff and everybody has a taste and yeah. It's, it's um, there's no specific science to it, but yeah.
Speaker 0 00:10:06 So you just pick them, what you like and what is kind of selling all this.
Speaker 3 00:10:10 We work with the chef on the menu and we want to try and make sure that we're not going to bring in a beer. That's going to spoil that taste of every meal. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:10:18 So as a Irish pub, obviously like you sell a lot of Guinness, lots of Guinness, Guinness. Do you have a relationship with that distributor? Like if you go to Ireland and they're just like, and you're like, Hey, I bought tons of fish.
Speaker 3 00:10:30 There's such a huge corporation where we probably don't even show on their radar. So yeah. Um, we try to deal with the reps as much as we can. Right. But again, being such a huge, the company that owns Guinness is massive. They don't so much that their portfolio, it's hard to hone in on one thing and be, Hey, I'm that guy
Speaker 0 00:10:51 Like? Yeah, we got lots of yet
Speaker 3 00:10:53 Again.
Speaker 0 00:10:55 Yeah. I had the pleasure to go do the tour when I was in Ireland, I went to their, uh, facility. Oh my gosh. The
Speaker 3 00:11:02 History is amazing
Speaker 0 00:11:03 Steep. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:11:04 Yeah. It's unbelievable. Don't realize the history behind it and that, and the risky took doing it. That's what always amazes me is I look at these companies Guinness, you know, it started with one guy with an idea like
Speaker 0 00:11:13 The rest of us. That's right. That's all it takes.
Speaker 3 00:11:15 Yeah. It's just having that drive and ambition. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:11:18 That's exactly it next didn't you
Speaker 4 00:11:20 Also get like a really good lease on
Speaker 3 00:11:23 An incredible lease. Yeah. If he was alive today, I'd be sending him to my landlord. That's
Speaker 4 00:11:29 Like a dollar for a hundred years. It
Speaker 3 00:11:32 Was insane. Yeah. With water rights, which was the big thing.
Speaker 0 00:11:35 Yeah. No, it's crazy. Yeah. They've done something. It's amazing. Next time I go back to Ireland. What I'd really like to do actually is go on one. There's like a whiskey trail you can go through and like you just it's it's a long trail. It takes days. But yeah. You just go to the different galleries. Yeah. That'd be really
Speaker 4 00:11:50 Like the one Ron Swanson went on. I know what's this. You never watched parks and rec. No, no. He goes on a big, long journey to try whiskey in Ireland.
Speaker 0 00:12:00 I'll have to watch that episode. It
Speaker 4 00:12:01 Goes on a boat and stuff. I think he goes to see the Jamison's factory. Actually.
Speaker 3 00:12:05 We did the Jamison's one. That's pretty cool. Yeah. I'm not a whiskey guy, but everybody else was so of course.
Speaker 0 00:12:11 Yeah. So you go walk. Yeah. Beautiful country. They make good alcohol. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:12:15 Hey, you know what? I've always wanted to do Ireland. I mean, growing up in the UK, it's weird. Cause it's right there, but we never went across. Um, so going back as an adult, I really appreciate the history of a bit of a history buff. So the architecture and the history, you know, I grew up in a pub, there was an old Roman barracks. Oh neat. So to me it's, it's, it's really cool thinking of that now at the time. I didn't appreciate it now. Of course not cat to go back to Ireland, you walk into a pub and there's a sign above the door that says 1772 and you're like,
Speaker 0 00:12:43 Wow. Yeah. That's exactly it.
Speaker 4 00:12:46 Yeah. In some
Speaker 3 00:12:47 Cases. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:12:49 So we're at the part of the show called the maxi minute. This is Tanner segment. He's going to ask you some questions. I don't know what he's going to ask you. Best of luck, Tanner and with the Mac city minute.
Speaker 4 00:12:57 Alrighty, question number one. What is your craziest story you have from your time as a barkeep?
Speaker 3 00:13:04 Oh boy. Um, without naming names and potentially ended people's careers. Uh, we had to kick in a bathroom door one day because somebody was being very friendly in there, um, with another patron and uh, despite us climbing and looking over the top and visually see what was going on, which didn't install them down at all. We had to physically kick the door in and say, you know, it's back up time to go home. Wow. That was a little crazy. Turned into a bit of a show.
Speaker 4 00:13:34 Yeah. No doubt question. Number two. As somebody from Cardiff, what do the blue birds mean to you?
Speaker 3 00:13:41 Oh, that's a good question. Um, if my uncle ever listens to this, they mean the world to me, any local sports team. I mean, obviously I grew up there. I tried to follow them as much as I can. Um, I don't get to watch it as much because the time difference is, and I hate watching something that's recorded
Speaker 4 00:13:59 Or guaranteed,
Speaker 3 00:14:01 Guaranteed. Somebody has already sent me the score, which just drives me insane. Um, yeah, I think they're great for the community and I support them as much as I can while I'm over here.
Speaker 4 00:14:09 Question number three. What is one thing that you can remember about your first day in Canada?
Speaker 3 00:14:16 Oh, wow. That's a very long story. I'll try to make short landing in Edmonton airport and realizing we didn't know where we were going and what we were doing. Um, oh wow. Yeah, we ended up, uh, my uncle came and picked us up and we ended up in grand cache normally. Yeah. Yeah. It was, uh, I didn't hear the story until years later from my parents, but uh, when we arrived, the oil recession had hit. Right. Um, but the opportunities my dad thought he had when we left the UK were all shut. They just canceled everything and they couldn't reach us because we were in transit. It took that long for us to get out of the UK to year. Right. So, yeah. So we ended up in a truck, uh, heading up to grand cache and I just remember it being bloody cold. Uh, my uncle stopped and got pizza, which was a new thing for us and it had pineapple on it and that's what I remember going. Somebody screwed up and they put this back of a big old Ford pickup truck. The original crew cabs. Yeah. Freezing cold. Yeah. He wasn't reaching the back seat thinking what have we done?
Speaker 4 00:15:19 Yeah. We'll sit in the back of that big truck. Must've just been an event.
Speaker 3 00:15:23 I mean, the truck was the size of some houses to me growing up in the UK. So yeah.
Speaker 4 00:15:29 That's cool. Question number four. What is the story behind the best beer you've ever tried?
Speaker 3 00:15:36 Ooh, uh, she was in Germany. Um, we were over there visiting on a, doing a quick trip, randomly walked into a Tavern and they sat me down at a table that was full because there was no room. They literally shoved people over and sat me down. Nobody spoke English. Uh, I looked at the guy's beer and pointed and he shook his head pointed to the one next to him. So she brought that one and it was of course that big. And the sample based beer was absolutely phenomenal. Uh, by the end of the night, I was upstairs in the Tavern singing English version of the German songs. They were singing. That's awesome. It was a great night. I remember that one forever. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:16:15 Uh, and your final question. What is one way you think your Welsh upbringing helped you run a bar in Fort McMurray?
Speaker 3 00:16:24 Uh, I think boy growing up in the, in the industry. So I understood the dynamics and the, the atmosphere we were trying to create probably a huge in the UK. So, you know, growing up in them houses, so small families don't necessarily gather, they'll go to a pub. That's right. They'll go to pubs Christmas dinner. Like people are booking Christmas dinner now at pubs because houses are too small. So to me it's a second home and that's what I wanted to bring to Fort McMurray. Was that feel,
Speaker 0 00:16:51 It's not. So when I was, this is years ago now when I was over there, but it was one thing that culturally is very different over there. Is that like, you just go to your local pub normal
Speaker 3 00:17:03 Every night, literally every night,
Speaker 0 00:17:05 Literally. Yeah. And I remember, uh, I was in, in Ireland, I was in a Kerry. That's where I was, I was in Carey and um, my wife's uncle, there was like a local pub right down the street from him. So we went there like two nights in a row and then me and my brother-in-law were just like, so, uh, are there any other bars here? And he's just like, oh yeah. There's like a few other places like you can drive to. And we're like, oh, so are we going to go check out one of those places? Uh, tonight, he's just like, why? And then we're like, why, why not? He's like, why would we, you go to your pub? And I'm like, well, how far is the other one? And the other one's like literally the same 10 minute walking in a different direction. He's like, yeah, you guys can go there. Yep. I'm not going. Yeah. And it's like, one of those things, like
Speaker 3 00:17:53 It's crazy. There's bugs in Cardiff that are literally across the road. Yeah. And this was my dad's local. You don't go to that one. Yeah. That's right. I went back with him. We were walking around card. If I'm a fiscal for a pint, I'd go in there. Why not? Yeah. Well my local's around the corner. That's right.
Speaker 0 00:18:09 That's right. No, I'm not going to, it's so different. But they just go in this debate. It like it's, it was a beautiful thing to experience in regards to like in north America and Canada, I can only speak for like what I, what I grew up with. Like when you go to the bar more often than not like you're going to drink and you might drink a little bit too much, but like the game plan is to go and drink. That's why you go to the, that's. Why you go to the bar, but over there, yes, you will drink something, but you're not going there to drink.
Speaker 3 00:18:35 No, there's truly social. It was going to see people and hang out and have a pint that's right.
Speaker 0 00:18:40 Bite to eat. That's right. It's, it's a different lifestyle. And I remember touching down and just going into a pub in the middle of the afternoon, just for like chips and a grilled cheese and ham sandwich. Yeah. And that was just the norm. And there's tons of people there once again, not there to drink just there to socialize, grab a sandwich, maybe a pint, and then go back
Speaker 3 00:19:03 To work and you can go by yourself and nobody thinks
Speaker 0 00:19:05 Twice if that's right. Yeah. It's it was so interesting. And I did, like, I grew up going to Patti. So like, that was, I felt some of the culture there. I remember going there for like lunches with family and friends and like how bars operate here. You can have young people in prior to certain hours. So like, you really have created like a really good feel for like what I experienced over there as well. Can we
Speaker 3 00:19:25 Book Christmas dinner a year? Pub?
Speaker 0 00:19:28 Yeah. My wife will kill me, but yeah. I'll show up. I'll show up.
Speaker 3 00:19:31 I'll give him a
Speaker 0 00:19:32 Line. Yeah. So, um, we're at the end of the episode, but uh, everybody gets a shameless plug or shout out at the end of the show. So the Mike's on you, the camera's on you have fun.
Speaker 3 00:19:41 Thank you. Um, thank you for taking the time to listen to this and thank you for having me really appreciate it. Uh, hopefully when you're thinking of voting, you think of me. Um, I have a lot of experience to bring to the table. Some passion, some dedication truly want what's best for this community. Um, if you have any questions, reach out to me through Facebook or, um, my webpage Gareth norris.ca or stop by Patty's for a pint I'm there 90% of the time, usually in the kitchen doing dishes. So give a yell and I'll come out. There we go. Awesome.
Speaker 0 00:20:12 Thank you. Well, I tell this to everybody and I truly do mean it though. Um, you can come back to the show again and again and again. So if there's anything you ever want to promote, anything going on, um, with potentially counsel in the future or anything at your restaurant that you want to hype up, please feel free to come back to the show again again and again. Thank you. Appreciate it. Sweet. Well, everybody at home for Memorial wood, Buffalo and the rest of the world. Thank you once again for tuning in, I do appreciate it. Uh, that's the end of another episode of the Mac city morning show. I hope you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
