It was as if he’d been preparing for Stratford his whole career. Everything he’d ever done laid down the skills he needed for the multi-faceted job he was facing—with great enthusiasm, I might add. He had tried to buy the direct mail advertising company he had been with working for an absentee boss, but he was turned down. That’s why he was open to a good offer from MTC (Manitoba Theatre Centre) to be the new manager—for four years before he moved to Stratford. So he had done publicity and promotion and fundraising. His humour and zest were his own.

That first spring he discovered the Stratford swans. They are natives, if you will, and live there year round. Their wings are clipped so they can’t fly south. When winter comes they are taken to a barn? shelter?resort? not far from the lake, to live out the bad weather. Then they are taken back to the lake. (The Avon River becomes Lake Victoria in the summer, thanks to the Thomas Orr Dam.) When I say taken, you can’t drive a swan—

Well, actually, you can fly one. We took one to Montreal as a gift when The Festival played there. It was presented to the Mayor (was it Duplessis then?- I can’t remember. I didn’t keep a diary i in those days.) During a formal ceremony when the swan was officially donated to the city of Montreal the swan shat on the Mayor’s carpet. He was very gracious about it and thanked us for leaving a bit of Stratford with him.

But in Stratford the swans were herded—led—to the lake. It wasn’t a formal occasion but you know how swans are — very elegant. When Bill found out about them, he created a photo op. The swans were harbingers of the new season, after all. He got Bobby Gimby to lead the swans. This was 1968, remember, and 1967, our Centennial Year, had left Canadians with joy and hope and eagerness for whatever came next. Bobby Gimby in his special coat and bejewelled trumpet, was the Pied Piper of Hamelin but this time there was a happy ending.

Veronica Tennent, the prima ballerina of the National Ballet, led the corps the following year. I think the Procession of the Swans became a tradition until it was stopped, I think by the SPCA because it was exploiting the swans, but I have to find out about this.

To be continued….oh, but,here’s Bobby Gimby:

“Bobby Gimby (1918-1990) was a Canadian orchestra leader, trumpeter, and singer-songwriter. In 1967, he wrote and recorded a song for Canada's Centennial that would have the entire nation humming and thousands of kids marching down main street. "Ca-na-da, a Centennial Song" ("Ca-na-da, la Chanson du Centenaire") broke every music-industry record, but more importantly, it became an anthem of unity for a Canada deeply divided.” (online)