Saratoga News
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Saratoga Sampler
Saratoga celebrates 50th with parade of parades
By Mary Ann Cook
CITY TURNS 50: It's Saratoga's birthday, and on Sept. 24 Saratoga Rotary is giving the city one giant birthday gift--a parade to end all parades. Some 3,000 people will march in the gala. Eight bands will assemble at Saratoga High to participate.
One special surprise group is the Balloon Platoon. This is a group of men ages 73-85 that originated in the Pleasanton Presbyterian Church in 1974. Founder Dick Howard had a garage full of truck inner tubes and decided to make use of them. He and his wife fashioned a billowy white sailor suit, complete with hat and long-handled mop.
Howard started to enter parades, along with several cohorts. The platoon is interactive--shakes hands with kids and everyone else, conducts drills as they march--a riot to watch, says Parade honcho Warren Lampshire. Internationally known, the platoon has appeared in parades in London, Washington, D.C., and Singapore.
Also in the local parade will be 100 Boy Scouts; brides and grooms in Indian dress; marchers in recognition of Joan Pisani's 32 years with the city rec. dept.; Mt. Eden Vaulting Club; Saratoga Nursery School on trikes; South County YMCA; Sister City, Taiko and visitors from Japan.
Saratoga's birthday cake will be cut with dental floss--the quickest and cleanest way to cut mass quantities, we're told. Upwards of 5,000 slices are expected to be served. Kiwanis Club will provide the ice cream. All this in Wildwood Park after the parade. The entire September event schedule is at www.saratoga50.org.
Here's the parade committee lineup: Ken Biester, Bryn Boepple, Ann Marie Burger, Manny Cappello, Jack Christensen, Glenn Dick, Duffy Elgart, Julie Herndon, Wil Houde, Mark Linsky, Connie Palladino and Carey Richard.
Dave Eshleman is the parade announcer, Paul Conrado is the chairman of the 50th anniversary committee and Pisani is the liaison with the city.
GOOD SAMARITAN: Dave Ashby played Good Samaritan when he spotted a purse in the street on his way to work at the parks department of Saratoga. He stopped his car to retrieve the article, then began to track down the owner. Turns out it was a young woman from Atlanta in the Bay Area visiting her uncle.
She must have left the purse on top of her car and forgotten about it, Ashby conjectures, because it hadn't been dismantled in any way, despite its tenure on the asphalt. The grateful owner wrote a letter to the city, extolling the fact that Saratoga has such thoughtful employees. The bag held more than $100 in cash, along with the usual crucial paraphernalia.
THIRD WORLD HELPER: Saratogan Marty Schibler continues to sing the praises of Helps International, the organization that offers practical solutions to Third World countries. This summer Schibler took his second trip to the interior of Guatemala--this time to install safer and more efficient stoves in some 71 homes there.
Most of the homes had dirt floors, no windows and no electricity, so the open fires they had been using were both a health and safety hazard. The new stoves are piped out, thus cutting down on smoke inhalation, plus making them far less likely to burn residents or lead to other accidents.
The stoves were designed by Don O'Neill, a Dallas engineer, whom Schibler terms as an unsung hero. These stoves also heat more quickly, yet use 70 percent less wood than the open fires did, another savings.
The average age of the group of 15 volunteers was 64. Schibler himself is 86, proving you're never too old to help out. The group installed 142 stoves--one indoors, one outdoors for each family--in this Guatemala mission. That's a lot of stoves for four days' work.
HISTORIC CLUB: The Saratoga Foothill Club will hold an open house Sept. 10, 1-4 p.m., to unveil a plaque denoting that its building has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The public is invited to the unveiling and refreshments in the Julia Morgan-designed clubhouse.
The club will hold a garage/attic sale Sept. 15-17, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., the first two days; and until 2 p.m. on Saturday. The clubhouse is behind the firehouse on Park Place. Proceeds will go to preserving and maintaining the building. The venerable woman's club will celebrate its 100th anniversary in January.
PLAY WITH THE PROS: Tennis for a Cause will be held at the Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club on Sept. 8, 5-9 p.m., a fundraiser for breast cancer research. This is a chance for serious amateurs to play tennis with the pros by raising $150. It's $25 and $35 to simply watch the action. Joanna Rodgin is the contact at 408.355.3995.
SENIORS HIGH TEA: The annual high tea will be held at the Saratoga Senior Center on Sept. 7, 4-6 p.m. Sandwiches, savories, desserts and live music are all part of the afternoon. Tickets at $15 are available at the center or call 408.868.1257.
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