Ontario Ad – March 26, 1970

Since this blog began back in 2009, there’s been more than 2,800 individual posts. But only one of those posts has more than forty comments left by readers.

Can you guess which post continues to attract readers more than nine years after it first appeared?

No, it’s not one featuring Reddy Kilowatt or Old Dutch Beer; it’s a post I did back in February 2011 entitled, “Remember Ontario Dept. Store?”

Apparently a lot of people still do, because the comments section for that post has become an online gathering place for former managers and employees of Ontario stores in other cities to correspond and reminisce. Their family members comment as well, and there’s even one from one of the founder’s children.

All of them have pleasant memories of a company that more than one of them believe could have given Walmart a run for its money.

So to keep the party going, here’s an Ontario ad with a ‘Fishing Headquarters” theme that ran in the Lorain Journal fifty years ago this month on March 26, 1970.

It’s fun examining the ad and checking out the various lures and other products, as well as the brand names such as Heddon®. And I like the ‘Huck Finn’ cartoon kid with his homemade fishing pole, and the cat waiting patiently for his share of the catch.

As I mentioned back on this post, my father enjoyed fishing. Unfortunately, he failed to lure my brothers and me to the hobby.

Maybe in retirement I’ll get myself a new Zebco and a loaf of Wonder Bread (for dough balls) and see if I can relive those Saturday afternoons in the 1960s.