Crystal Beach gives Old Man Summer a 35-float funeral

Old Man Summer rode through Crystal Beach in his coffin Saturday, trailed by about 35 floats for the village’s annual End of Summer Parade.

Winnie Swalm, 91, a member of the Crystal Beach Beautification Committee since 2000, led the procession as grand marshal, an honour Friends of Crystal Beach reserves each year for a longtime volunteer.

The parade followed a five-kilometre route through the village, starting at the Crystal Ridge Community Centre and ending at the Crystal Chandelier.

Paul Lewis, co-chair of the parade, told Fort Erie Radio the plaques the group now hands to winning entries have made the parade more competitive than it was back in the 1960s, when he first rode in it.

“It’s gotten kind of competitive now because we give these plaques out, and they’re really nice,” said Lewis.

Friends of Crystal Beach chose Swalm as grand marshal for her instrumental contributions to “the beautification of Crystal Beach,” as Lewis put it, such as tending the flower beds along the Ridgeway Road hill.

She also served as vice-chair of Fort Erie’s Communities in Bloom committee, which entered the village in the national garden contest each year.

The beautification committee’s float rolled directly behind Swalm. Lewis said she had no idea the honour was coming until the group told her.

“She couldn’t believe it,” said Lewis. “She was like, ‘Oh my gosh!'”

Allan Hackett played Old Man Summer, riding in the coffin at the tail of the procession.

Fort Erie Healthcare SOS, the Friends of the Fort Erie Public Library and the Co-op Kids Koncert Band, which placed third, also entered floats, and a motorized toilet rolled the route that Faon Parkin called the funniest thing she had seen at the parade in a Facebook post.

Lewis said the day begins with neighbours building floats together and ends with strangers cheering them along the route.

“It just becomes a very positive day, kind of an uplifting day to start the holiday (weekend) with,” said Lewis.

American cottagers started the mock funeral in the 1950s. Lewis first took part in the mid-1960s, when groups of eight to 10 college-age renters shared a cottage for the summer and mourned its end on their last weekend together.

The early parades copied a funeral scene from the 1958 film ‘The Vikings.’ Cottagers floated the coffin into Lake Erie and lit it on fire. They later moved the burning to a backyard bonfire after some residents worried the flaming casket was polluting the lake. Recent parades have left out the fire.

The parades faded in the late 1970s as new owners bought the cottages and stopped renting them out. The tradition ended after Crystal Beach Park closed for good on Labour Day 1989.

Friends of Crystal Beach revived the parade in 2000 and asked streets, businesses and community groups to each enter a float. The parade paused after 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic and returned in 2023.

The number of children along the route has grown every year since the revival because nearly every entry throws candy, Lewis said.

“The kids probably come home with enough candy for two months,” said Lewis. “The police and the fire department are terrific. They love it and they’re great with the kids.”

Donna Lewis, parade co-organizer, said the parade gives businesses a way to close their peak tourist season.

“It’s a thank you to the residents for supporting them,” she said.

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