ABOUT THE WEEK OF JAN. 25, 1963, At ARIETTA, members of Piseco Volunteer Fire Department met recently to plan for a Field Day on June 8. The Piseco firemen would sponsor the annual event for the Central Adirondack Firemen’s Association.

Member companies were Old Forge, Inlet, Blue Mountain Lake, Fort Johnson, Indian Lake, Long Lake, Lake Pleasant, Meco, Pleasant Square, Piseco, Raquette Lake, Speculator and Wells. Each company would be invited to attend and compete in the races.

William Abrams and John Preston would obtain judges and plan the races. Food supplies would be ordered by Henry Lamme and George Haskell.

William Lamkey Sr. would organize the parade. Participating in the parade would be member fire companies, neighboring companies and high school bands. Those at the meeting included: President Burt Grier, Vice President Gregory Popp, Asst. Chief William Abrams, John Preston, Floyd Abrams, William Lamkey Sr., George Haskell, William Lamkey Jr., Hank Lamme, Tim Williams and John Colvin.

The Town of Arietta had been allocated $1,000 in state aid for a 12-month recreation project, the state Division for Youth had announced. An application for aid submitted by Supervisor William E. Baker indicated the Town would spend $2,000 during the year for activities that included swimming and playground.

Facilities to be used were Piseco Elementary School, Golden Sands Beach and Oak Mt. Ski Area. The director of recreation was James Bush. Arietta was one of more than 1,100 municipalities that participated in the Division for Youth Program. This was the eighth year for Arietta.

At INLET, the property and bond issue vote held the previous weekend on spending $128,500 for purchase of the Arrowhead Hotel property received resounding approval when electors favored the issue with 87 “yes” votes and 13 “no” ballots. The proposition was set up in two parts and was easily understood by the 100 voters who were interested in the future development of their community.

The Arrowhead property, with its buildings and large lake frontage, would be utilized by the Town of Inlet for recreational purposes including a public beach, bath houses and other summer facilities. Supervisor Norton Bird and other members of the Town Board expressed their thanks to the Inlet voters for their interest and turnout inasmuch as they felt the purchase and development of the Arrowhead property would be a big asset to the town in years to come.

The year’s first travel show, and one which was entirely new on the agenda of Sports and Travel Shows for this area, was slated for Washington, D.C. from Feb. 6-10. This would be followed by the National Outdoor and Travel Exposition at the Coliseum at New York City.

The final show would be the American and Canadian Sportsmen’s and Boat Show at the Auditorium at Cleveland, Ohio in March. The self-contained travel show unit, which was used for an exhibitor’s booth, had been completely refinished and restyled for the 1963 shows.

Colorful new pictures of the area would be used as background for the booth. The exhibitor’s booth would be staffed by Pitt Smith and Miss Betty Crofut.

At OLD FORGE, the skiing Kashiwa family of Old Forge captured most of the honors in the William Hovey Memorial Junior Alpine Championships the past weekend in Lake Placid. Led by 13-year-old Hank, they placed either first or second in every event they entered. Hank defended his 1962 Class III title, taking both the Slalom and Giant Slalom by comfortable margins.

In two runs on the 24-gate Slalom at Mt. Whitney, Hank clocked 83.3 seconds. In the Class III boy’s event, he clocked a 58.5 on the half-mile, 33-gate Giant Slalom.

The Kashiwa name headed the list again in the Class IV Slalom, as Bryan skied to a 101.6. In the Giant Slalom, another Old Forge boy, Tom Crofut, took first place with 65.8 and Bryan was runner-up with 69.2.

The race, conducted annually by the Lake Placid Ski Club, was named in 1963 to honor the late Bill Hovey Jr. of Lake Placid, a leading skier and director of the Lake Placid Club Ski School.

Rolling snowballs were gathering momentum as busy snow sculptors hurried to complete their snow and ice figures in the Snow Sculpture Contest for Old Forge Winter Carnival. Cash awards of $50, $25, $15, $10 and $5 would go to the five best figures. The theme of the Winter Carnival, “History of Old Forge,” would figure largely in the sculptures.

Fifteen high schools in the northern and central regions of New York state had been invited to compete in the double schedule of race events to be held at the end of January at Maple Ridge and McCauley Mountain. The weekend consisted of the New York State Girls Jr. I & II Team Meet. Both events were USEASA-sanctioned.

The meet was attracting a wide field of entrants for both teams and individuals. Entries had been received from Schenectady, North Creek, Watertown, Lake Placid, Ellicottville, Potsdam, Whitesboro, Cooperstown, Saranac Lake and Old Forge.

The Girl’s Alpine Tournament and the Covey-Pashley Team meet were sponsored by the Polar Bear Ski Club in cooperation with Covey-Pashley Post 893, American Legion and Town of Webb School.

The Giant Slalom, Slalom and Downhill events would be held on McCauley Mountain. The cross-country skiing and jumping events would be held at Maple Ridge.

Pitt Smith, executive secretary of the Central Adirondack Association, attended the New York State Chamber of Commerce Executives Conference held recently at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. The three-day affair was attended by all chamber of commerce executives in New York state.

Just for fun: Noah Webster began writing his dictionary in 1807 and finished in 1828.