Ron (Buck Shot) Barge’s family bid a final farewell to the Calgary children’s TV legend’s on Friday. The Calgary icon graced television screens through four decades as a kids’ TV personality, becoming something of a famous public figure southern Albertans fondly remember to this day. It was on display at Friday’s service as rows of family, friends and admirers gathered at the memorial service in northeast Calgary.
, only 10 days shy of his 88th birthday. Well over 100 people showed up to Centre Street Church wearing jerseys, at the request of the family. Several of those jerseys donned the No.
13 worn by Johnny Gaudreau, another Calgary hero who recently died at the age of 31 and whom Barge, a passionate lifelong Flames fan, undoubtedly marvelled at during the young star’s time in Cowtown. The service was full of people who would’ve watched Buck Shot and Benny in their youth anywhere from 1967 to 1997; several of the people in the crowd even appeared on his show at some point over those 30 years. “What you saw on TV was what we saw at home,” Barge’s son, Ken, said before Friday’s service.
On the stage sat an accordion, a guitar, Benny the Bear, a Flames jersey and a classic western outfit. A screen displayed photos of Barge on TV, in decorated, undersized hat and with Benny the Bear. For many kids in their formative years, Barge was an unforgettable mainstay for local children’s television, a program with skits, song and puppets.
His program would beco.