by Laurel | August 25th, 2014
28 August 1915
A Crowd of 8000 Turn Out To See the 10 Different Parades — Prize Winners
Ten Baby Carriage Parades in 10 different grounds was the big novelty feature at the closing exercises of the Holyoke playgrounds yesterday afternoon. Attracted to the grounds by the advanced announcement that a baby carriage parade was to be held, a crowd estimated close to 8000 men, women and children were present during the afternoon. Although only one week’s notice was given relative to the baby carriage parade, a larger number of entries appeared than what was expected and the majority of the carriages were decorated handsomely. On several of the grounds some of the children were dressed up as “Uncle Sam,” while others were costumed to represent other national figures. The woman’s equal suffrage league was not forgotten and one of the babies was costumed in the uniform of a suffragist.
On a few of the grounds dolls played a prominent part in the parade and the dolls were dressed up to represent many notable characters. Even Charlie Chaplin was represented and he was also in the line of march. Each ground held its own separate paras and awarded its own prizes. Owing to the number of prizes given it was almost impossible to keep track of the winners. The winners on the Morgan grounds were as follows: Howard Hurley, Mildred Wisel, Nathaniel Palmer. Estel Gendron and Masters Beaudry and Michelson. All of the prize winners were selected as having the best decorated baby carriages in the parade.On the Highland School grounds the parade was perhaps one of the prettiest in the city. The carriages were decorated very handsomely and all made a beautiful picture so that the judges had difficulty in selecting the winners. The winners on this ground were Edith and Margaret Hogan, William Rohan, Dorothy Landers, George O’Connell, James Ryan, Andrew Bell, Frank Rackliffe, Edith Morey and Philip Johnson.
The winners on the Chestnut Street grounds were Eilleen Riley, Doty Glidden and John Doherty.
The Maple Street ground winners were Lillian Moriaty and Josephine Legue.
One the Park Street school grounds a doll carriage parade was held, prizes being awarded to Cecilia Hamelin for the prettiest carriage and to Barbara Goehring for the funniest carriage in the parade.
On the West Street ground over 1500 people turned out to witness the parade. The winners on those grounds were Rose Kennedy, Christine Johnson, Barrett Hughen, Margaret Murphy, Irene Cook, Lillian Cairi and R. Lushpero.
The baby parade on the Springdale grounds was one of the prettiest in the city. There was an unusual number of carriages in the parade and the judges had their hands full in awarding the prizes. The prize winners were Florence Bissell, Mildred Bissell, Georgianna Taupier, May Dodge and Esther Rey.
The baby carriage parade on the Hampden Street grounds was also very attractive, there being a large number of carriages in the parade. The winners on this ground were as follows: Helen Hawley, Charles Ward, Mary O’Connell, Rose Scannell, Norma Newcomb and Elizabeth Geham.
The playground commission and invited guests, which included members of the board of public works, school board and members of the board of aldermen, left the city hall soon after 2 o’clock and visited al of the grounds. During their travels they secured photographs of the children going through their different folk dancing. The commission were given a treat on the Morgan grounds. where Miss Bessie McGuines had prepared a special program for them. On this ground, four little girls dressed in green gave a special Irish Lilt dance. The girls taking part in this dance were the Misses Meehan, Mekler, Schindler and Rosenbloom. The visitors were well pleased with the progress made on the grounds. During the early part of the afternoon an exhibition of the work of the children was held and following the close of the exercises the different articles were distributed to the children.
Adapted from The Springfield Republican.
