Picture this: a sultry summer night, circa early-to-mid 1990s. The exact date is not important. It’s all part of the magic and the lore. Joey Ramone, with his trademark black leather jacket and tight blue jeans slinks out of a rented white van. Sweat drips from his furrowed brow. He gazes at the tall pines and the beauty of this ever-changing Group of Seven painting come to life as he takes the last drag of his cigarette. The place: a tiny Muskoka town. The venue: The Kee to Bala. Far from his New York home, the skinny punk rocker is definitely out of place. No matter. He is here to spread his punk-rock gospel to Canadian cottagers. He steps into the club, removes his jacket, and hangs it on a rack in the cramped backstage area. A couple of hours later, Ramone steps onto that storied stage. With his trademark 1-2-3-4, the band launch into a spirited evening that added to the already legendary status of this venue.

This Ramones moment is just one of hundreds of snapshots in time that have played out in Ontario cottage country at The Kee — the big wooden barn structure on Lake Muskoka that is a summer tradition equal to barbecues and road trips for many Southern Ontario music lovers.

Sue McCallum, who was doing publicity for MCA Records at the time, recalls this memorable gig. Her beat-up Honda was decorated with stickers of this seminal New York punk band. She was a fan before she got into the business, so doing publicity for them was a dream come true. “They didn’t even know what cottage country meant,” says McCallum of this event. “I also remember Johnny [Ramone] asking me that day, and it has haunted me for the rest of my life, ‘what is it about our music that you like?’ I froze and stammered out, ‘it’s the songs.’”

Long before there were roads to Bala, it was a whistle stop for Big Bands to perform their songs. Everyone travelled by steamship in the early days; later, they arrived by train. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Guy Lombardo and Tommy Dorsey all played in Bala at The Kee’s predecessor Dunn’s Pavilion where you could fetch a ticket for $2.50.

In 1929, Gerry Dunn purchased property at Bala Bay on Lake Muskoka to build a venue that would attract small orchestras to the area in summer (seizing on the opportunity the recent introduction of rail service created – delivering tourist passengers right to the village). Appropriately enough, the early dance hall’s slogan was “Where All of Muskoka Dances,” and in an era without televisions or cell phones, people came not only to dance, but to make welcomed social connections as well.

After operating for close to a decade, crowds became so big that a new venue was envisioned. Dunn wanted to attract bigger bands, and knew he needed room for more dancers in order to do so (to cover the artists’ fees). He designed and built a much larger building – doing much of the construction work himself – and in 1942, “Dunn’s Pavilion” opened to the public.