Graham Bertrand chairs Taste of the North with Jimmy Dillon as Carnival King and Debbie Ferguson as Queen in 1978

Jim Dillon, Graham Bertrand, Debbie Ferguson Bonhomme, MJM

Graham Bertrand was the chairman of 'A Taste of the North', the Chapleau Winter Carnival, while Jimmy Dillon, who was instrumental in reviving the annual winter celebration was honoured by being named King of the Carnival in 1978.

Debbie Ferguson was the Queen of the Carnival while I can't remember who Bonhomme was that year.

Graham, 34 years later, was co-chair with Nadia (Huard) Fortin of the 90th anniversary reunion festival of Chapleau High School, being held from June 29 to July 1.

My files show that Graham was a member of the Chapleau Recreation and Festival Chapleau committees in 1973, so for more than 40 years he has been actively involved in the life of his community -- and I won't even try to list all the ways he has volunteered  for Chapleau activities.

I will mention one though -- Graham was a great trainer for the Chapleau Intermediate 'A' Huskies when they played in the Northland Intermediate Hockey League. He also played donkey baseball!

Bill Scheer, Pat Swanson, Graham Bertrand

Graham was also co-chair with his wife Rose of the 100th anniversary of Chapleau celebration in 2001. He is also Chapleau' fire chief.

Suffice it to say, CONGRATULATIONS GRAHAM and THANK YOU!

Jimmy Dillon was chairman of the winter carnival committee during the 1950s as well as serving as manager of the Chapleau Huskies -- Intermediate 'B' teams who were always entered in the Northern Ontario Hockey Association playoffs, and at carnival time, vied for the Ernest  'Sonny' Bignucolo Memorial Trophy. Sonny, an outstanding goaltender was killed while on active service in Canada;s Armed Forces.

Someone once told me that Jimmy was a great manager who even accounted for "every piece of tape." He was also president of the Chapleau Liberal Party Association when Lester B. 'Mike' Pearson, who became prime minister, was the local Member of Parliament,