Pulling up to Crystal (Maddy) Alton’s house in Minden, it’s obvious there is a love of mechanics. There are cars, rideon lawnmowers, all-terrain vehicles, motorbikes and bicycles.
Her son Brody, 11, drives up on a BMX bicycle converted to a BMX mountain bike, while other son, Brayden, 15, tinkers with a quad he recently purchased.
Alton comes out of the house and pulls up a camping chair, saying there are about 20 kids that come by the place on a regular basis; to learn about mechanics, plumbing and electrical in all manner of vehicles. It’s become a neighbourhood thing.
“It’s revolving, everything moves,” Alton says of the vehicles in the driveway, garage and yard.
She said she is called ‘Maddy’ because she is neither a mommy or a daddy, but a combination of both.
Born and raised in Minden, a town she loves, Alton remembers her brother-in-law, Joe Nesbitt, being an early influence with his passion for derbies.
Her father also shaped her. She said she nervously came out to her dad, and he simply told her he knew. No big deal. She felt “normal”. He encouraged her to follow her interests and she said many people helped her learn about heavy equipment. On weekends, she worked at Rusty’s Garage as an apprentice, saying “without him saying ‘yes’ to me, I wouldn’t have had a spot to go to learn skills and he taught me so much.”
She moved to the city for a spell, working as a tow truck operator – “there’s nothing like sitting on a white line on the 401 changing a tire. You have to know your stuff” – and playing hockey. She met her former partner, Amanda, and they had boys together. She moved back to Minden, got her mechanic’s licence in 2008, and now works with Dysart et al.
Teaching kids
As for teaching kids, Alton says it started with Brayden and Brody when they were in diapers.
“We’ve been building and creating. Outside of the box thinking.”
As the boys grew, they made friends and the friends started coming around too, “and we’ve just slowly been adopting more children to the garage. It’s really a community thing.” In fact, it’s been dubbed the Whoville Garage.
She also credits her mom Dawn, sister Donna, and a long list of friends.
Alton added, “whenever we save some money, I’ll buy a car. It all started with derbies and ice racing.
“The kids all come over and I help a little, but I give them the tools and the power and a little knowledge and just send them off with it. I’m a big person on safety, so jackstands, jacks, blocks … just teaching them as, some day, they have to work on their own car or their own buggy or bike.
“We fix everything. It’s mostly teaching and watching. It brings me joy watching them grow and develop, even if they are not my own kids. They’ll come in, and the first time don’t know what a wrench is or a rachet, but next time, they do, saying ‘I have everything.’ Then, they learn to fix things.”
They also get some driving lessons in the driveway. “Most kids have never driven a car or lawn tractor, so I get them to move cars in the driveway. We have little kids learning how to park here.”
Competitions include getting the older kids to back up a truck and trailer into the driveway.
While Alton loves teaching the kids, racing is the other passion. The kids are fixing up cars that are going to the Grassroots Motorsports Park in Woodville for track racing.
She recalls winning a race in which Brody was her co-pilot. Alton said he noticed her hands shaking a bit when she was adjusting a mirror.
“There is nothing like that feeling when I’m in the car with Bro or Brayden. It happened to be Brody this time. I was nervous and then my 11-year-old buddy says ‘take a breath, Maddy, it’s ok. We’ve got this.’ Oh my God, your heart just stops – he’s telling me to calm down.”
Brayden won the summer showdown out of 38 cars.
They’ll next head to the Woodville track with tools, cars and kids from the Whoville Garage in October. The kids help other drivers with their vehicles, changing tires and gassing them up.
“Bringing all these kids together; watching them grow and develop and just become amazing kids. Some of them have changed, I’ve watched them change … for me, that’s pretty cool to see. I know they have fun…I have so much fun.”
Role model
Alton remembers when she first joined Dysart et al. “It’s tough for people when a woman comes in. At first, they were a little standoffish.” Not only was she gay, but a woman too. But she said she was neither of those labels, she was just herself. She added “once they realized I’m just me; it’s been perfectly fine. Now, we joke and laugh.”
Does she consider herself a role model?
“I never have, actually. With my kids, I’m just like their brother. I know I’m their Maddy…but I just say, ‘let’s go…not, oh, you shouldn’t do that.”
