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In this episode of Trint’s “A Photo A Story”, Jeff answers a question he is often asked: who is the most memorable person you interviewed in your 30-year journalism career? The answer may surprise you. It is not a President or Prime Minister, it’s not a celebrity or a superhero, it is two elderly rural sisters he met while shooting a quirky documentary on the passion of baking for small-town Fall Fairs. 

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It was 1987 and while working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Jeff travelled to the outskirts of Mitchell, Ontario where he met Pearl Nowack and Mabel Fisher. These two were renowned for their baking skills and the buckets full of prizes they won every year at the Mitchell Fair. Jeff and his crew shot non-stop for 36 hours as they prepared close to 50 entries. It may not seem glamorous, but these sisters with such a genuine passion for their craft is an experience Jeff will never forget.

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Watch the video above or see Trint in action by viewing a read-only link of this transcript, with playback features to read-along with the video. Or if you’d just like the text, you’ll find Jeff’s story below.

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Jeff: [00:00:00] So one of the things you get asked as a reporter who's covered a lot of stories over a lot of years is who is your favorite? Who do you remember most? I've met presidents and prime ministers. I had drinks with the queen. I had lunch with Jimmy Carter. But they're not on the list. It's these two ladies. 

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Jeff: [00:00:29] That's Pearl Nowack on the left, and Mabel Fisher, her sister on the right. You can tell from my hair and my face that this was a long time ago. It was the late 1980s. I was in my second job in journalism. I was co-host of a program, documentary current affairs program for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that did both serious and fun stories. And when I was looking for stories when I arrived, it occurred to me that there were people who really put a lot of effort into these small town fall fairs. And I called the society reporter at the Stratford Beacon Herald, the local paper, and I said, Betty, is there anyone who comes to mind who really puts everything into the local fair, the fall fair, and who just really cares about what she or he does? And she said, Pearl Nowack. And I said, Talk to me about Pearl. She said, Pearl wins everything and she's great. You'll love her. 

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Jeff: [00:01:31] So I got introduced, and a few weeks later, a camera crew, producer and I are on our way to the small town of Mitchell, Ontario. And we walked in and we were in the warm embrace of two of the most lovely people you'll ever meet in your lifetime. And they were serious bakers in a way that the bake offs of today's TV don't quite capture. 

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Jeff: [00:01:56] This was a science and it was a craft all in one. And it was also very much a rural tradition. They didn't use fancy ingredients. They used lard. They used things that most people probably don't bake with today. They had 54 entries. About 35 of them were baked goods and the rest were canning, which for a city boy like me, you'd think was canning. But in fact, it was jams and jars of pickled relish and things like that, that they prepared in advance. 

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Jeff: [00:02:26] But the day before, within two days before the fair, were producing more than three dozen different baked goods according to the requirements of the baking judges at the Mitchell Fall Fair. And we watched as they peeled apples and they made nut loaf and loaf without nuts and cookies and breads. And it went on and on. And the oven was constantly on. Things were going in. Things were going out. Meanwhile, they're just bantering away with memories and just making us smile and making us feel incredibly warm. 

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Jeff: [00:03:05] And by special dispensation, which took an unreasonable amount of time, we were allowed into the Mitchell Fair for the judging as long as we promised not to release the results until after it was made public, which seemed very, we were quite happy to abide by that since it was going to be weeks before we put the documentary on. And these two wonderful women won 38 out of 54 prizes. And I just delighted in telling their story. We called it My Fair Ladies, a title I'm still very proud of. And people loved it because it was just a celebration of a passion for life on a very small level by two women with obviously a lot of skill and an even more heart. And it came through. 

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Jeff: [00:03:56] I kept in touch with Pearl and Mabel. After I moved from Canadian television to American television, I would go home and occasionally every couple of years make a journey to Mitchell to see them with a producer who I remained friends with, and they would always put out this incredible spread and Pearl made this cucumber relish, which she knew I loved, and she would always have some fresh cucumber relish for me and she would send us off with baked cookies and pies and breads and insist that we take them. And it was just this warm friendship between the most unlikely people that happened through the accident of my really fortunate career that allowed me to meet people like this. 

‍Jeff: [00:04:37] So when people say, who are the most interesting, your favorite people you've met in your 30 plus year career in journalism. It's easy. It was Pearl and it was Mabel.