Viewfinder: Mayors Celebrate April Fool's Day with Greatest Hits of Proclamations

Past, present, once and future mayors of Santa Cruz came together at noon Sunday for a new April Fool's Day traditon – reading old and new proclamations in a light-hearted benefit for the

Current Mayor Don Lane organized the event, which included mayors from as far back as 1961 (John C. Daly) who recalled their best and funniest proclamations and shared some city history with a crowd gathered on Pacific Avenue, below the Rittenhouse building.

"I hope they got a permit for this," said one passerby. Cars were blocked from the block for the hour.

The mayors arrived behind a horse-drawn coach, carrying current Vice-Mayor Hillary Bryant, who will be the next mayor at the end of Don Lane's term.

The mayors included: John Daly (1961), Norman Lezin (1964), Sally DiGirolamo (1975), Dr. John Mahaney  (1976, 1979),
Joe Ghio  (1977, 1980), Larry Edler  (1978), Mike Rotkin (1981,1985, 1995, 2004),  Bruce Van Allen  (1982), John Laird (1983, 1987), Jane Weed (1986), Don Lane  (1991, 2012), Neal Coonerty  (1992), Katherine Beiers  (1994,1998), Cynthia Mathews  (1996, 2006, 2009), Celia Scott  (1997) and Emily Reilly  (2002, 2007).
 
Writer Kim Luke and Tax Collector Fred Keeley were the masters of ceremony, cracking wise at every turn. Luke wrote this great story about proclamations and the day in.

It included these actual past proclamations:

Lost Boys Day—July 25, 2007 (Emily Reilly)

Santa Cruz Lawn Bowling Day—May 5, 2001 (Tim Fitzmaurice)

Good Posture Month—May 1990 (Mardi Wormhoudt)

UCSC Banana Slug Day—Sept. 27, 2011 (Ryan Coonerty)

Gabriel Quarternote Day (a cat)—Dec. 12, 2010  (Mike Rotkin)

PJ Matonak Day  (another cat)—Dec. 11, 2010  (Mike Rotkin)

Jax Day  (a dog, albeit a police dog)—Sept. 27, 2011 (Ryan Coonerty)

Former Mayor Mike Rotkin, who strummed a guitar and wrote a song about proclamations (see video), recalled a proclamation for fellow former Mayor John Laird, proclaiming not a day, but a minute in his honor, from midnight, to 12:01 a.m.

Here's a list of all the city's mayors from 1876-2008.