"The Wakefield Chamber of Commerce and several other local organizations sponsored a Water Carnival on Lake Quannpowitt which attracted 20,000 to 30,000 spectators. Crowds lined the shores of the lake and many others sat comfortably in cars along Main Street to watch the events which began with swimming races at 1:30 p.m. and ended with fireworks and the singing of 'Auld Lang Syne' at 10:30 p.m. The weather was ideal for a day at the Lake, although the sailboat races were postponed due to a lack of a 'sufficient' breeze. The day's schedule also included a diving exhibition, a canoe tilting contest, exhibitions by the Riverview Canoe Club and the Sea Scouts, a twilight regatta, a war canoe race (with six five-man canoes), a concert by St. Joseph's Band and the grand community chorus, the selection of a carnival queen, an illuminated diving exhibition by the Boston Swimming Club, a float parade, and an aerial fireworks display which was set off from a diving raft in the lake. The Veterans of Foreign Wars also sponsored a Carnival Ball at the ballroom. Among the highlights of the carnival was the entrance of the Wakefield Red Men who marched in full uniform down Main Street to the common, paddled their canoes down the lake, and performed a war dance near their teepee which was erected on the shore." -- Text from calendar by Jayne M. D'Onofrio. Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 1997 Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Item Company.
