The parade was always exciting for me; first marching as a Boy Scout, then with the Saranac Lake High School Band under Charles House and later Joe Boland; the Veteran’s Club Drum and Bugle Corps; marching as mayor with the village board members then riding on the float with the King and Queen as Chamberlain in 1981, thanks to the Women’s Civic Chamber, and finally as Grand Marshall in 2003, riding with my high school pal, Manny Bernstein, in his 1930 Model A Ford convertible — the car, Manny and I were all born the same year.

One of the features which opened the 1974 Carnival was the Kiddie Costume Ice skating Party. Sorry if I have to use your name as one of the kiddies, because everyone will now know how old you are.

Page One:

“The 1974 Winter Carnival opened last evening with a brief ceremony and the Kiddie Costume Ice Skating Party at the municipal rink on Petrova Avenue. More than 200 children participated in the party and consumed more than 500 cups of cocoa and quantities of doughnuts afterward.

“The Rev. John McAvoy, pastor of St. Bernard’s Church, opened the carnival with an invocation; Mayor John Brewster read the carnival proclamation; Peter Donnelly, president of the Chamber of Commerce, welcomed participants and guests. Thomas Cantwell was master of ceremonies.”

I served on the village board when Mr. Cantwell was village attorney. This is not my first rodeo, and I’ll bet that you all dislike that corny term as much as I do, so I will never use it again. Mr. Cantwell was the most articulate speaker I have ever heard … and I have heard many. His voice, his vocabulary, the nuanaces and the volume. I would listen, transfixed and enthralled, no matter if he was talking about the legal requirements for the village dog pound or what we had to do to fix the pumps at the sewage treatment plan; or explaining that the property owners on the lake on Riverside Drive or Lake Flower also own the property under the water “to the thread of the stream” in Lake Flower, formerly the Saranac River.

Where was I? Or yeah, Carnival.

Kathy Donnelly, dressed as a gas pump, won the grand prize in a field of characters from Fact, Fiction and Imagination. Her award, and that of Joe Miner, a knight and runner-up, were presented by Smokey the Bear.

“Kerry McLaughlin and Sandy Logie, forming a Rugby team, won first prize for a group. Steven, Gloria and Sara Jackman took second prize in this category, and Linda and Susan Videtti, Raggedy Ann and a Cat, won third prize.

Other winners were:

Toddlers — London Piro, clown, first; Laurie Darrah, Indian, second; Todd Hennessy, cowboy, third.

Kindergarten — Tammy Stroebeck, apple, first; Kerry Robinson, Valentine, second; Stephanie Stahl, repair man, third.

First Grade — Marian Neal, tea party, first; Laurie Cheney, Quaker, second; Heidi St. John, ice skater, third.

Second Grade — Kathy Donnelly, gas pump, first; Sherrill Stroebeck, banana, second; Missy Simpson, Raggedy Ann, third.

Third grade — Mark Piro, soldier, first; Polly Cheney, princess, second; Cathy Capone, baby, third.

Fourth grade — Kent Warner, bird, first; Dawn Prentiss, elf, second; Greg Collier, monoster, third.

Fifth grade — Bonnie Steiner, old fashioned lady, first; Ty Fobare, Watergate plumber, second; Joe Miner, knight.

“Mrs. Malcolm Fobare was chairman of the event. Judges were Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Schiller, Mrs. Henry Jakobe, Mr. and Mrs. James Russell, Mrs. Richard Bellaire, Mr. and Mrs. John Brewster, Mr. and Mrs. John Videtti. “The Saranac Lake Bantam Hockey players assisted with the grand march and volunteers prepared and served the refreshments.”