Yee Haw Adventure Farm feature

just down the road FEATURE

Hillbilly country YEE HAW’S WALKER FAMILY IS JUST NAUGHTY ENOUGH TO GET LAUGHS

By Nancy Harper Photography • Tom Vogel PICTURE A RAZOR-SHARP MRS. DOUBTFIRE trading wisecracks with Shrek. Add some zany Carol Burnett and deadpan Tim Conway, then throw in a dash of the Family Von Trapp, albeit a hip 21st-century version, and cap it all off with a dose of hillbilly Partridge Family playing the crowd for laughs.

It’s a crazy mix, but one that perhaps comes closer than anything else to

describing the eclectic brand of entertainment that is Yee Haw Adventure Farm in rural Cambridge.

Part theatre, part stand-up comedy and part gettin’ down and dirty, Yee Haw is quite possibly Waterloo Region’s best example of authentic, non-commercial, family entertainment.

It’s also that rarest of rare days out: one without a hockey arena in sight, and one in which mom, dad and grandma can have just as much fun as the kids without burning a big hole in their wallet.

Above and right: Here they come! The crowd cheers as the resident pigs, some in costume, race at the Sqeals Inn. Left: The Yee Haw Adventure Farm gang includes (left to right) Carlie Walker, Dorren Collins, Georgia Walker, Stuart Walker, Jenna Walker, Janet Walker, Virginia Walker, Bob Walker, Bonnie Hood, Ken Hood, Flo Walker and Todd Walker.

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ENJOYING THE SHOW Ken Hood, otherwise known as Grandpaw, watches as pigs run around the course.

Todd Walker, playing the part of Flo, performs in the Flo Gently Show, a variety show about farm animals.

BINGO! A visitor takes his best shot at Cow Paddy Bingo

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The hay rides, the haunted house, the pig races and the pumpkins are typical autumn country delights, but the heart of this place is the host family. The lovably cheeky Flo and Todd Walker (“Maw” and “Paw”) have a deliciously naughty sense of humour and an uncanny ability to entertain.

At a time when pricey commercial entertainment rules just about every inch of the cultural landscape, it’s comforting to know such places really do exist, and that the owners are the real deal.

Todd is a bear of a man who, when not clothed head-to-toe in Doubtfire drag, is a Cambridge chiropractor. Flo is both funny and gorgeous, and their five children, ranging in age from five to 20, are charming, talented and quite used to having as many as 2,000 people in their

backyard on any given Sunday in October.

Whether by mysterious genetic quirk or sheer coincidence, all seem born to entertain, and at least two are quite likely destined for stage or screen.

On the final show of the 2007 season, Flo is dressed in a hillbilly-yellow housecoat and hair rollers to host Yee Haw’s everpopular pig races. With a wink and a leer, she introduces one of the few staffers who isn’t family as her very own “farmboy.”

This handsome rural equivalent of Brad Pitt, who is a triplet of all things, is at Flo’s mercy as she gives him the once-over, cocks an eyebrow, and winks at the women in the audience. “Ladies,” she cries, “meet farmboy! Everyone should have one!” It all flies over the kids’ heads, of course, but the adults love it.

Bob Walker plays Cuzon Bob.

Janet Walker as Cow Paddy.

“

The ham in Flo comes naturally. Growing up on a nearby farm, she was the baby in a family of seven children, and was forever acting out little plays to keep her siblings entertained. Since Yee Haw threw open its gate in 2002, she has been just as keen to carry on the tradition for her guests.

“I feel very obligated to the people who come here,” Flo explains. “Every molecule in my body vibrates for everyone who comes here. I want them to have a good time, to walk away and go, ‘Wow, that was great.’ They’ve driven some way, paid admission. They’re expecting something and I don’t want to let them down. It’s hard to make everyone happy, but that’s why we like to have that little twist of humour.”

Having a laugh is Yee Haw’s reason for being, of course, but for the Walkers, what matters is that this is what they do together. The seven of them are Yee Haw, and everyone has a role to play.

“The family outing is starting to not be as important as it used to be,” Flo says. “But there’s power in the whole family thing.

That’s when I guess we’re in our element.

Lots of people look at us and they’re always like, ‘I’m so embarrassed about my parents.’ And I say, ‘Your dad doesn’t dress up like an old woman!’

” Jenna Walker, 17

People who come here love knowing that.

There’s a certain magic to that and they love to know and be a part of it. It’s such a great feeling for people to bring their kids to the country and see what’s going on, get a whole day outside. Everyone’s going out together. There’s no competition.”

That simple Walker philosophy reminds us that families pressed for time and togetherness aren’t doing themselves a favour if they go off in different directions every weekend.

“Todd’s the reason we’re like this,” Flo adds. “His ideal is everyone home and falling on him and playing games with him. Hockey on the pond, whatever.”

The Walkers married young. Flo, now 44, was 23 when they had their first

child. Todd, now 48, who grew up in Cambridge, has a sheer physical presence that belies the softie deep down. Like his wife, he brings the same off-the-charts enthusiasm and energy to every show.

So what makes the Walkers tick?

“Probably caffeine and adrenalin,” Todd says with a laugh. “We want everything to be perfect, and how we would want it to be if we went somewhere. We keep striving to accomplish that. The kids know what we expect, whether it’s everyday stuff or the show. We’ve never settled for anything sub-par.

“Our hope for people coming here would be to have a really excellent day in the country where you’re with your family — just them — and you’re enjoying yourselves and laughing. To me, that’s priceless.

“We love our kids to death and we do have a lot of fun doing this,” he adds. “It’s a really good experience for them to learn what it takes to have a business, how much hard work is involved. They’re helping from April right to the end.

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Above, a pumpkin greets visitors taking the tour. At right: Stuart Walker, 15, with a piglet draped over his shoulder, plays a tour guide in the Flo Gently Show.

YEE-HAW TREATS Candies, cookies and homemade pumpkin pie with real whipped cream are just some treats available at the Sugar Shak.

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Planting pumpkins, corn. Hopefully they’ll learn some life lessons.”

Carli, the eldest, is now in university, but still living at home. “I’m not a normal teenager,” she says. “I tell all my mom’s friends I’m a 40-year-old woman trapped in a 20-year-old’s body. I’d rather stay home and have a cup of tea and watch TV than go out and party. I don’t know what I’d do without them. I love the kids so much. I want to have five kids, too.

“Everybody who comes to Yee Haw always asks, ‘Are you guys all family?’ It’s really special because it’s our own family and we’re all working together toward the same thing.”

Then there’s Jenna, 17, for whom it seems Nashville is beckoning. The songstress who belts out Yee Haw’s signature tune every weekend has Canadian Idol in her sights.

“Lots of people look at us and they’re always like, ‘I’m so embarrassed about my parents,’ ” Jenna says. “And I say, ‘Your parents don’t dress up like hillbillies! Your

dad doesn’t dress up like an old woman!’

But I do like hanging out with my family.”

Stuart, 15, also known as Billy Buck Flatfoot and Topsy Turvy, is the only boy.

He loves drama, and it shows.

“Most boys his age are into sports and he’s just into having a good time,” Flo says.

The two young ones, Georgia, 8, who is Daisy Duke, and Virginia, 5, who plays Lil’ Dumplin’, just go with the flow. They get up on stage as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

It’s a demanding routine, especially in October, but somehow they manage to avoid the dysfunctional-relationship pitfalls.

“We’re not there yet,” Flo yells with a giggle. “We’re human and we get tired and we get bitchy. I do a lot of yelling in the house. It is exhausting and there are those times. But when we bought this place, we had to decide, ‘What should we do with it?’ This is what we’re doing to make our farm work.”

YEE HAW AT A GLANCE Yee-Haw Adventure Farm is old-fashioned family fun every weekend in October. It’s open year-round for barn dances, corporate events, team-building and birthday parties.

Highlights: The Flo Gently and her Farmyard Friends show, piggy races at the Squeals Inn Speedway, Halloween favourites like the Haunted Barn Gone Bad, Wagon Ride Gone Wrong and Monster Mash Bash, a climbing wall, five-acre corn maze, authentic outhouse and a sugar shack.

Cost: Age three+ $13; family of four $45; extra children $10 each.

For more information, call 519-624-0085 or visit www.yeehawadventurefarm.com, or head out to RR1, Cambridge (near the junction of highways 6 and 97).

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