Release No. N.64/57
RCAF Says It With Flowers In Traditional French Parade
METZ, France, 20 August, 1957. The City of Metz turned out in its entirety on Sunday to witness the colourful "Fete de la Mirabelle" annual festive celebrations marking the harvest of the French Mirabelle fruit. Gay street dances, a long queue of 28 floats and brilliant fireworks captured the fancy and imaginations of more than 80,000 people, but it was a flower-laden float of the Royal Canadian Air Force that really stole the show.
Consisting of more than 60,000 flowers, all of which were obtained freshly-cut from Strasbourg more than 150 miles distant the 30-foot float was decorated by a small crew of RCAF personnel who worked throughout the night to arrange the 60,000 dahlias individually in the cool night air.
Drawn by an RCAF flag-draped truck, the float carried several flowered models the largest of which was a six-foot replica of a Sabre jet interceptor aircraft, complete with a flowered cockpit and a "flowergirl pilot", little Miss Sandra Lynn Smallshaw, "five years young", and daughter of Flight Lieutenant and Mrs. Alfred Frechette, of Edmonton, Alberta.
Six airwomen from Canadian Air Division Headquarters, all in long flowing gowns, plucked mirabelles, flowers and streamers from the float and tossed them to expectant onlookers throughout the route. Uniformed airwomen accompanying the float on either side handed out 5,000 small plastic models of RCAF CF-100 all-weather aircraft.
One of the last items to appear in the long flotilla, the RCAF float of flowers and young ladies was led by the combined band of the RCAF Fighter Wings at Grostenquin, France, and Zweibrucken, Germany. Under the direction of Sergeant Kenneth Pells, of Toronto, the 30-piece band of uniformed airmen received continuous applause as they formed the rearguard of the parade during the three-mile march to the Place de la Republique in the heart of Metz.
Sundays parade marked the third consecutive year that the RCAF in Europe has taken part in the "Fete de la Mirabelle" of Metz. Arrangements for the RCAF participation in the festivities were made by Warrant Officer Charles Raizenne, of Ottawa and Hull, PQ. He was assisted on the float preparation by Corporal Eric Cargill, of Vancouver, Leading Aircraftsman Ray Stone, of Windsor, Ontario, and Leading Aircraftsman Jerry Goulet, of Hull, Quebec.