The Press., 1919-10-23

l Those long looked forward to days
 are over and will be remembered for
 some time because the memories of Stafford's biggest days are something that can not be erased very soon, if we
 wanted to. From Wednesday morn
 ing until Friday evening the people
 were busy enjoying the celebration
 and the fair. The parade of Wednes- day morning was truly grand affair I-more impressive than anything ever
 seen here, and what made it so strik- 1 ing was the way those boys of ours
 marched. As they swung up the 1 street every leg and every arm moved as one and with a snap peculiar to l trained marchers. To see them march
 and to hear the band gave one that l feeling of wanting to do something big. It put them in their proper light I as heroes, for one realized then more than ever that the boys had been will ing to die for their country. Follow 1 ing the soldiers, who were at the head of the parade with six local policemen 1 and Colts ArmOry band of Hartford in l front of them, came a float represent 1 ing Peace" and contributed by the R. | I. w. Co.,, next came a decorated auto, l then the K. of c. float and members of | the K. of c. on foot, another auto, St. Edwards parish float, the parochial
 school children and the Fox chariot in l which sat John Rockwell and Arthur Blodgett whose forefathers were some of the very first settlers in Stafford | FO11OWinp this chariot the town float showing that Stafford always did her part in the wars. Then came the 1 high school float and some of the boy 1 scouts as standard bearers. The | borough school float followed this. A float contributed jointly by the Odd
 Fellows and the Rebeccas and the l Phoenix woolen mill float were also in l the parade.
 1 Decorated autos were sprinkled
 throughout the parade, including one
 with a delegation of the G. A. R. There was plenty of music which was 1 supplied by the Italian and Phoenix bands besides the Colts Armory band. After it was all over the people were
 given time to go to their homes and prepare for the afternoons offerings. l Then it was that the fair association made it's contribution to the celebra- tion of old home week. The crowd 1 found much of interest about the side shows and booths till after 1 o'clock when the people began filling the l grand stand.
 | Governor Holcomb arrived about 2 1 o'clock. He was introduced, or
 rather presented, by Col. w. H. Hall,
 because MT. Hall believed that in view
 of his work during the war the gov
 ernor needed no introduction to any Stafford audience.
 l In his address, which was quite
 short, he praised the townspeople and
 the boys for their loyalty in the great war. He cited the fact that no Staff | ford boy was court martialled and l that was one reason for the town to | be proud of it's sons. He also ex- pressed the hope that the boys would take an active part in the government 1 of their town.
 Following the governors address 1 Rev. c. H. Puffer gave the main ad l dress of the afternoon in which he re- viewed the history of the town, pick ing out significant incidents and show ing what an important part religion I played all the way through. Both of
 these speeches will be published in pamphlet form later.
 1 Tuesday afternoon and evening had ! UoCu lldl hSu ny c1u. oA w VOuAOouoy morning the sun peeped out from be-
 hind the low lying clouds just long
 enough, it seemed, to bestow an ap- proving smile upon the parade. That | smile was by no means enough to dry l out the drenched race track, however, so it was necessary to postpone the l races scheduled for the afternoon. l Perhaps this announcement disap- pointed some but the stage attractions
 went no short distance towards mak-
 ing up for the lack of horse racing, and it is quite certain that any dissa-
 pointment was forgotten by the time the attractions were over. It would
 be hard, in fact, we'll nigh impossible to pick out just what attraction most pleased the large audience of the three days.
 The performances of Miss Jessie
 Lee Nichols, with her trained horses, Torrellis pony and donkey circus, the Daley brothers, the twentieth century furniture movers and Kit Carson's
 shooting drew a good amount of ap- plause each day The skating bear made quite hit, especially when he showed his liking for what was sup posed to be the contents of little
 brown jug"
 In the evening at Hyde park came
 the greatest display of fireworks ever
 seen here. Tremendous is about the
 only word that comes near describing
 that display. The imitation of burst ing shrapneH and a bombardment by
 heavy artillery was at once grand and
 terrible-grand for the wonderful dis
 play of fire it made and terrible when
 we remembered the tales of the great
 war The set pieces were elaborate | T&41s Ix, gave concert during the display, once again showing that they can play
 and play we'll. When one of the set pieces bid the great crowd Good
 Night" many footsteps were turned toward the dance hall while others, older and more weary ones, went to-
 wards home where the events of the great day were gone over.
 Thursday was day of bad skies,
 yet the crowd that came to the fair
 was tremendous one. The people