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A { 3 | letters | Dear Sir: Such excitement. In those days there was no § jangling telephone or # blaring stereo - just the | steaming kettle and the bustle and murmur of a hurrying family. { There would be no more careful packing of the old discarded tin soda cracker boxes, tucking Christmas cake, candies and cookies between the cigarettes | Memorie and socks; wrapping, addressing and mailing the package to our loved ones overseas. Billy would be home to-day. Everyone was dress- ing in their Sunday best for this very special occasion. For me this included putting on long white stockings and high buttoned shoes. These shoes had white leather tops and black patent leather bottoms and there was a pretty tassel at the top of the ornate buttons. Oh the labour that went into fastening these buttons with a long pearl-handl- ed buttonhook. This was topped off by an eyelet embroidered stiffly starched white dress with a wide blue taffeta sash. The highly styled bow at the back of the dress matched the one perched on the top of my head -- nothing casual in those days. The ticking s of a time long ago ornate black clock with its swinging pendulum was getting closer to that time. We took a venturesome ride on the old open street car (which we children call- ed the sugar-shaker) along Davenport Road and on to the station. This was to be a memorable day. The excitement and emotion was high, tears and laughter were mix- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, June 5, 1984 -- § PORT PERRY STAR CO LIMITED 135 QUEEN STREET (Qi) #0 801 Q0 PORT PERRY ONTARIO 108 INO (410) 98% 738) oo ee SE (04 J. PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association J.B. MCCLELLAND and Ontario Community Newspapet Association Editor Published every Tuesday by the | Port Perry Star Co Ltd Port Perry Ontario CATHY ROBB Authorized as second class mail by the Post Ottice orzed CONA Class mai Dy the Fos we News & Features Department Ottawa and tor cash payment of ) } Nas) PRIZE WINN 8 postage in cash NWADVAN Commun ) } Ss ry Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 A A "a Subscription Rate: In Canada $15.00 per year Elsewhere $45.00 per year Single copy: 35 COPYRIGHT - All layout and composition of advertisements produced by the advertising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission of the publishers and hand knit gloves remember when? (Turn to page 6) 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 5th, 1924 The road construction machinery has arrived and the new road is being constructed on Water Street and continuing north until the main street is reached. Mr. James Crozier was made chairman of the court at a meeting of the Scugog Council on Monday. Some forty well trained singers from Orono will pre- sent an opera in the Town Hall in Port Perry. Mrs. D. Robb and Mrs. R.H. Brown were the directors of the operetta. The Port Perry Band is being reorganized under the leadership of Mr. Ross Roach. The following pupils of Miss G. Stovin of Port Perry Public School, given prizes for excellent essays on "Why I must be a Total Abstainer from Alcohol & Tobacco', were Beverly Smallman and Hazel Jeffery. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 2nd, 1949 Port Perry Juveniles opened the 1949 baseball season at Yelverton and won 9 - 7. Cawker, Lee, Helm & Hayes led .the Port Perry attack with two hits each. Mrs. Helen Willard's pupils of Port Perry and Brooklin, will hold their annual recital. At the Port Perry High School Variety Night, Wesley Jackson gave a saxaphone solo. Bruce Gerrow, Ted Grif- fen, Zula Jackson and Norma Hackley all sang. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 4th, 1959 Roy Ormiston bought the famous cow Windylea Nancy Low for $5,000.00 from J.B. Briscoe, of Northcote. Four high school students entered projects in the Ford Motor Co. In rial Arts Exhibit in Toronto. Two of these 'boys - Arnold Kerry and Richard Carnegie received Hon- ourable Mention for their entries. At a hockey banquet in Port Perry, special guests were Dick Duff and Frank Mahovlich. The outstanding sports- manship award went to Dale McNenly. 20 YEARS AGO : Thursday, June 4th, 1964 Miss Jean Bright's students of Port Perry and Uxbridge displayed their talents in a recital at Port Perry High School. Extensive landscaping is being done at the Manchester Municipal Hall. The lawn is being leveled and re-sown and shrubs are being planted. Cartwright High School students sponsored a museum day and modelled dresses worn many years ago by the women. Also on display was antique furniture. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 5th, 1969 Garry Gibson, a Port Perry Cub, won a trophy for the best design in racing cars at Pinewood Derby held in Oshawa Civic Auditorium on June 1st. During a banquet held in the Port Perry High School last week, a number of trophies were presented to the most valuable athletes in various categories. Winners were Dale Beare, wrestling; Gord Williamson, track and field, and a second trophy for basketball; Louanne Popowich, gymnastics; Jan Baird, athletics; and Faye Healey, basketball. Plans are being made for a Bon Voyage afternoon tea in honour of Rev. P. and Mrs. Romeril in Blackstock. Four-year-old Luke Van Ryswyk, won the $100.00 Ferarri Sports Car when his mother's ticket was drawn recently during Mersco's Renovation Sale. Over 300 relatives and friends paid Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Gibson a visit on the occasion of their 40th Wedding An- niversary, Saturday, May 24th. Manchester - Mrs. Crosier is in Toronto this week at- tending the 19th Annual Welfare Convention at the King Edward Hotel. Mr. Gerald Nelson accompanied the Victoria County Holstein Breeders on a chartered air trip to Milwaukee on Monday. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, June 5th, 1974 Bill Hopkins played his pipes as Helen Jammer and Bev. Hill, winners of the Women's Open Class of Canoe the Nonquon, paddled in at the finish line at the lake front in Port Perry. A crowd estimated at close to 5,000 people turned out to the Sutton Fair Grounds last Saturday as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau paid an official visit. The PM visited Ontario Riding in support of emcumbent MP Norm Cafik. Utica News - Congratulations to Miss Beverley Rudkin who was one of six girls who received County Honours in the 4H Club at Latcham Centre on Saturday. A TIME OF PROMISE In the mind's eye of the poet, the painter, the com- poser, Spring is hot stuff. It is Oh to be in England now that April's there (Browning). It is a bunch of gals in long nighties scattering petals as they dance in the glad- some glade (Boticelli). It is lambs gamboling to the notes of the shepherd's pipes (Beethoven). Now, that may be all very true in Europe, where those birds operated, and where Spring is indeed a bewitching seductress that makes the senses reel. But I am not, to my regret a poet, the only painting to which I can point with pride is my storm windows, I can barely make a tune discernible on the kazoo, and most impor- tant of all, I am a Canadian. So I'm afraid I'll have to go along with Samuel Butler, who had a more prosaic view of Spring. Of course, Sam, though he was an Englishman, had visited Canada, as witness those immortal lines 'Oh God! Oh Montreal!" He stated flatly that Spring is "'an over- praised season ... more remarkable, as a general rule, for biting east winds than genial breezes." oo Spring, for the average resident of Ontario, is like heaven, something to be looked forward to with a cer- tain hearty optimism, mingled with a slight doubt about its eventual appearance. Only about once in ten years does Spring actually materialize in this country. Then the natives go com- pletely haywire. Forgetting the other nine cold, dreary springs, they whip off their long underwear, go for long walks in the woods, and fall deeply in love, though not necessarily in that order. Of course, they catch severe headcolds, get blisters and lost, and marry people they normally wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch with. It's also a time of promise. Every Spring I promise myself I'll put in a garden this year, and a few weeks later promise myself again I'll get at the garden right after opening day of the trout season, and later still that I'll get the screens on. This goes on right through until bill smiley fall, and even then I'm promising to get the storm win- dows on. My mother told me I was a promising boy one time, and it went to my head. I've been promising ever since. There's no denying, though, that spring is a time of resurgence of life. There's nothing so heartwarming as the sight of the annual spring crop of babies, out on display in the pram parade on the first sunny day. Their slim young mothers, who were girls just last fall, have a new beauty and dignity, as they sail along three abreast, pushing honest taxpayers, into the gutter. For our senior citizens, spring is the most wonder- ful gift of all. They have been dicing with death all winter, and as the sun warms their old bones, they know they have won another toss, and a welcome respite, before they have to pick up said bones and shake, rat- tle and roll them again. For the kids, there are drains to make. Boats to float, puddles to wade through, and lovely mud that squishes underfoot. Threats, orders and imprecations from their harassed mothers, trying to cope with the annual flood of muddy foot-prints and wet shirt-tails, have no more effect than rain on a duck. For the farmer, spring means another nine months of breaking his back for peanuts. For the sailor, it means leaving the wild scramble of family life for the com- parative calm of life on the deep. For the housewife, it is a time to attack the house like the Assyrian coming down on the fold. For young lovers, it is a time to act even sillier than usual. Whatever it means to us, and even if it doesn't ar- rive until the 30th of June, to be immediately transplanted by a hot summer, it's the only thing that makes it worth while to battle our way through the winter. The year spring fails to arrive at all, I want somebody to take me out quietly behind the barn and shoot me. Seeking friends The Gala Gananoque Heritage Days Festival Committee of Ganan- oque, Ontario, is seek- ing old friends of the town and former resi- dents, to specifically invite them to return and share with us the mammoth celebrations we plan this June to observe Ontario's Bi- centennial and the town's own heritage. This invitation applies to new friends as well. To create a celebra- tion of some size and scope, the Festival Committee has set aside three different week- ends in which visitors and residents alike can kick up their heels and enjoy themselves. The first weekend, June 15 through 17, has the theme of a Town and Country Weekend while the second weekend, June 22 through 24, is entitled Festival of Friends. The third weekend, called Salute the St. Lawrence, will focus on the St. Law- rence River and the fun it provides to the people who live in or visit this area. The second weekend in particular has been deemed as a home- coming weekend. It is a time when we would welcome former resi- dents and new friends to the Gateway to the Thousand Islands. This weekend, June 22 through 24, will feature a giant Indian Powwow, historical exhibits and re-enactments, as well as other events that focus on friendship and fun. We welcome anyone to attend. Better yet, people can consider themselves welcome at all three weekends. The first weekend features a three-day bluegrass and country music festival starring Tommy Hunter, Sylvia Tyson, Family Brown and J.D. Crowe and New South. The third weekend will feature an estimated 1,000 boats in a giant cavalcade throughout the islands. Further information can be obtained from the Gananoque Cham- ber of Commerce, 2 King Street East, K7G 1E68. Telephone is (613) 382-3250.