This green canvas umbrella once belonged to Marra’s Grocery, an important community hub, and reminds us of the diversity of Canmore’s immigrant community.
Started in 1919 by C.T. Sing, one of the many Chinese people who came to western Canada in the hope of a better life, the store was purchased by Cardo Marra in 1945. Cardo and his wife Jeanne were children of one of the many Italian families that moved to Canmore around the turn of the twentieth century. Marra’s grocery store served Canmore until it closed in 2005. Hundreds of locals turned up for its closing celebration. This umbrella was part of the Marra’s outdoor produce sale that happened in the summer months. The story of Marra’s grocery is a chance to think about Canmore’s diverse ethnic history as well as the rise and fall (and rise again?) of small independently owned grocery stores.
Both the Sing family and the Marra family came to Canada from other countries, and had very similar, and at the same time very different, experiences. While the Italian Marras went on to become an integral part of the Canmore community, the Chinese Sings have disappeared even from the history books and little is known about their lives. Many Chinese immigrants to Canada were often treated as second-class citizens and experienced racism at the hands of their white fellows, both immigrants and native Canadians
