April is a time for whimsy

Christmas used to be celebrated in April. Then the calendar was changed. Those who refused to change and still celebrated Christmas in April were April fools.

I think the April issue is a time for editors to let their whimsy out. When I was Vice President, Bulletin Editors, I sponsored a contest for the best April Fool issue. There were only two contenders. "Howdy" Davis, Batavia, New York, won handily for having the temerity to mess with the former and sacred Society logo. I sent Howdy a certificate. He told me they took it to afterglow and spilled beer on it, making it even more authentic.

This year I read only two bulletins with April Fool articles. One was mine, the Big D Bulletin. I opined as how Vocal Majority was scared by The New Tradition finish in Anaheim, and impressed by the Style Examination Committee's trend to traditional barbershop, and decided the VM, to prepare for contest with TNT, were going to sing nothing but traditional barbershop. But I was bested. The Grant Carson April Fool Award of 2000 goes to Dick Stoeltzing, Butler County, Pa., Chapter, Notable Notes, who simply printed the nameplate backwards. [Ed. note: The Danbury, Conn., Hatter Chatter, had an April Fool issue, but apparently Grant Carson is not on their mailing list.]

Come on, editors. Next April, let your hair down and do something fun. And if you're a district editor, whooee!, what havoc you can wreak!