| When Norman Luxton relocated the Sign of the Goat Curio Shop in the early 1900s from the Stoney Indian Reserve at Morley to the town of Banff, he was already being regarded as a legendary figure who had a passion to preserve the history of the Plains Indians.
One hundred years later, Luxton’s legend lives on at the Banff Indian Trading Post, where the current owners of the business continue to foster a close relationship with the First Nations people who sell their handiwork there.
Luxton was born on November 2, 1876 at Fort Garry (now Winnipeg). His father, William Luxton, founded the Winnipeg Free Press and Norman worked at the newspaper before setting off for Ontario, where he joined the then-named Indian agency of that province. However, before long Luxton headed out West and landed in Calgary at age 17, where he worked for the Calgary Herald for eight years. Luxton, always searching for adventure, moved to Vancouver, where he once again worked in the newspaper trade before embarking on a five-month journey across the Pacific Ocean from Oak Bay, B.C. to Fiji in a dugout canoe named the Tilikum.
However, it was not until he returned to Alberta at age 30, this time settling in Banff, that he discovered his true home. Luxton published the local paper (Crag and Canyon) for more than 50 years, and organized Banff’s Indian Days and the annual Banff Winter Carnival. His interest in the Plains Indians was his overarching passion, and the reason he established the Banff Indian Trading Post and, in collaboration with Eric Harvie, built the Luxton Museum in 1953 to house his collection of Aboriginal artifacts.
Before Luxton died (at age 86 in 1962), he had already made arrangements for Robert Garbert to take over the Trading Post. The Garbert family, including Robert’s wife Alma and their four children, has been running the business now for more than 40 years. Nestled beside the Bow River, the Trading Post remains much the way Luxton left it. Walking through the front doors of the shop, the first thing you notice are the heads of a moose and deer mounted high on one wall of the large log frame structure. The cramped space is full of one-of-a-kind objects created by Aboriginal artists and craftsmen – some of whom have sold their treasures to the Post for decades.
"We buy something from the Stoney People every day," says Alma Garbert before excusing herself to take a telephone call from a regular supplier.
That close relationship between the Stoney First Nation at Morley and the Banff Indian Trading Post is at the crux of the shop’s survival. True, there is the odd item that seems sorely out of place – such as a tray of mood rings and the Merman (a figure preserved in a glass case that is reputed to be a cross between a fish and human that Luxton installed to draw tourists to the shop – but for the most part, the Trading Post is filled with hand made objects that have been created by Aboriginal people from First Nations communities across the country, including the Dene and Algonquin People.
"People come in and think some of these pieces are from Japan," scoffs Garbert. "Some of the tourists just don’t know what it takes to make these things."
From exquisite beaded jewelry to moose-hide coats, the items are proudly displayed by this family whose shop now celebrates a century of being in business.
"There aren’t a lot of places in Banff that are family owned," says Garbert. "We’re proud of our store."
And when asked about the rumour that Trading Post founder, Norman Luxton still visits the shop more than 40 years after his death, Garbert just smiles and says, "He was the nicest man on the planet – I still see him in the basement once in a while." |
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