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Saturday, February 22, 1997

Snowbirds injecting money, their culture into South Texas

By J. ANDREW CURLISS

The Dallas Morning News

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND - Jim Erwin is lounging on the deck of the Sheraton here, tanning his pale belly, sipping a cold beer and explaining how to best live as a Canadian retiree.

You go south, he says, to get away from Canada's bitter winter.

"That cold's for the younger folks," he says with a snort. "Us old ones, eh, we get the heck out. We get in the campers, and we follow the sun."

Lately, they're following it to South Texas. More than 7,500 Canadians will choose to visit the Rio Grande Valley this winter. That's up from 5,000 a decade ago, according to a study published by the University of Texas Pan-America.

"We used to go to Florida," says Erwin, a lifelong resident of Manitoba and a part-time resident of this four-block-wide island off the tip of Texas.

"Florida was the spot, eh? No longer, though. I've got all my friends coming here. This place is Canada South."

Perhaps, not quite yet. Canadians make up a small part of the 100,000 or so winter Texans who stay in the Valley for more than three months at a time. That still trails Florida, where officials say 500,000 Canadian snowbirds winter, and Arizona, which counts 243,000 among its seasonal population.

Still, South Texas and the neighboring Mexico border towns enjoy a boost from the onslaught of winter Texans, Canadians among them.

Signs are posted throughout the Valley welcoming the Northern refugees - and the estimated $250 million they pump into the economy - to this land of white beaches, palm trees and warm sunshine.

Local newspapers beef up their national news. A package of Canada briefs is added, and several TV stations broadcast a "winter Texan" report in the mornings.

Roadside stands, touting Mexican stoneware, wicker baskets, plump fruit and everything in between, do a brisk business.

"We sell mostly to the winter Texans, God love 'em," said Rosco Thomas, who perched off the main highway, sells oranges that are "better than Florida's."

But it's the Canadians, those beer-loving, hockey-watching northerners, who inject just enough of their culture and money to make winters a NAFTA-lover's paradise.

Take D'Arcy and Claire Groteau, French-Canadian retirees who call Ontario their permanent home. After arriving in South Texas early in the season, they went to Christmas Eve Mass at a nearby church.

"We had been to the church just the week before," Mrs. Groteau said. "Nice little place. Comfortable."

"And so we show up for Christmas Eve, and the whole Mass was in Spanish," Groteau said. "We just sat there trying to figure it out. We didn't want to be rude and get up and leave."

"Before it was over," Mrs. Groteau said. "My ears were getting weary."

"We started talking French," Groteau said.

Fred Williams and his wife, Janice, have been making the trip from Ontario for nine years. They befriended a Hispanic worker at the trailer park where they stay.

"Nice fella," Williams said. "He's a hard worker. We're friends now, but we can't talk."

Williams enrolled in a Spanish class on the island two years ago. He now goes twice a week.

For now, the worker's children translate at dinner visits and holiday gift exchanges. "I figure it'll take five years for me to learn enough so that we can talk alone," Williams said.

Language isn't the only difference that the Canadians encounter. There's no organized hockey in the Valley. But most of the snowbirds have satellite dishes perched above or beside their campers.

"Every night, he points that thing to get hockey," said Joy Gladieux, who comes from 100 miles outside Calgary. Her husband, Frank, is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. "Sometimes we'll have some Americans over, but they get bored and leave."

Most of the winter Texans stay in RVs or campers, studies show. They come because it's warm. And because prices are relatively cheap.

More than 80 percent visit Mexico during their stays. They go to shop, eat and buy prescription drugs, which are regulated differently in Mexico. They spend an average of $200 apiece on drugs, according to one study.

Most leave before the second week of March, when swarms of college students invade for spring break.

One year, the Gladieuxs stayed an extra week.

"It was chaos," Mrs. Gladieux said. "There were naked people running all over. We stood out at a bar one night and watched a young girl bungee jump naked. That was a sight, eh?"

Most of the Canadian visitors are outdoors folks, having lived most of their lives in rugged, wide-open country.

"We fish four, five times a week," said Jim Snave, a 63-year-old retired engineer from Manitoba. "The thing here is, you throw out your line and you'll never guess what comes in. It's ocean fishing.

"Back home, eh, you catch a bass or a walleye or a pike. That's it."

Snave's wife, June, pulled out a picture of their home taken the day they left for Texas. In the photo, their 32-foot camper is loaded down, Snave is smiling next to the driver's door and about four inches of snow blankets the entire scene.

"Glad we got out," June Snave says.

The next picture is of a large moose, gutted and hanging from a tree in their front yard.

"I got that one," June Snave says, meaning that she shot and killed it. "If they had moose down here, it'd be a real paradise. Probably be more people, though."

Jim Layter stays at one of the big hotels on the island. He helps organize pot-luck dinners, bingo games and other events for 100 or so Northerners who stay there.

"The big event this year," says the 55-year-old retired bar owner from Toronto, "is that we're going to have a busload of Canadians, Americans, you name it, and we're going to send it hurtling into Mexico."

They'll stay for a week up and down the Mexican coast, he said.

"Call it our little contribution to NAFTA," Layter said. "And we'll be sure to buy up the Coronas while we're down there."

The Canadians, says bartender Renithe Forte, drink more beer than anyone else - except, of course, spring breakers.

"That's good. We see a Blue Jays jacket come in, and then we know to put more on ice," Forte said.

But many from the Great White North complain that Canadian brews aren't available. Most bar and restaurant owners said it's just too expensive to stock the beers.

"They're always asking for Labatt's or Molson," said one bar owner. "Tell them to drink the beers from down here."

Most do.

"But I won't put any fruit in my beer," said John Shields of Ontario, referring to the popular practice of putting a lime in the suds.

Some, such as Vancouver resident Jerry Deguille, bring their own. Deguille stocked four cabinets in his camper with Canadian beers. He said he starts each winter with eight cases.

"For special events," he says, "we break out the good stuff. Otherwise, we just drink what everyone else here drinks. I mean, we are in the U.S."

Indeed, back on the pool deck at the Sheraton, the 67-year-old Erwin sips a Budweiser and then holds it up in a mock toast to no one at all.

"When in America," he says, "you should do as the Americans do."

He stands up, tugs on his trunks and puts on a cowboy hat he bought in Houston some years back. He meanders toward the pool, his legs bowed as if he'd been riding a horse all weekend.

He spits.

"In Texas," he says, "you do as the Texans do, eh?"

And then, hat still on, he jumps into the warm water. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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