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Innisfil heritage site offers old-fashioned family fun (5 photos)

Visitors to the Knock School Heritage Site on the long weekend could check out a one-room schoolhouse and play homemade, battery-free games

What better place to play old-fashioned games – from crokinole, to jigsaw puzzles, to Snakes and Ladders – than in a fully restored one-room schoolhouse?

On Family Day, the Innisfil Historical Society held its annual Family Day Games Day at the Knock School Heritage Site. Visitors could experience a one-room school, the kind that once was common across South Simcoe in the first half of the 20th century, but they could enjoy games and puzzles brought in by members.

Members were on hand in the afternoon to explain game rules, provide refreshments, and engage visitors – like Siske Pratt, who was thrilled to play Hank Abspoel’s handmade shuffleboard game.

Abspoel, 91, has been part of the inspiration behind the Family Day event, bringing his collection of homemade, battery-free games, and challenging visitors of all ages to give them a try.

Pratt, of Dutch heritage, was delighted to see the table-top shuffleboard game.

“I call it Sjoelbak – you call it shuffleboard,” she said as she scored a point.

The annual event attracts families from across the region for an afternoon of free, old-fashioned Family Day fun.

The next meeting of the Innisfil Historical Society will take place at the Knock Schoolhouse, at 10 Sideroad and Line 9 in Innisfil, on March 16.


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Miriam King

About the Author: Miriam King

Miriam King is a journalist and photographer with Bradford Today, covering news and events in Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil.
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