Elementary school alumni recall wilder days in Woodside Elementary school alumni recall wilder days in Woodside (May 05, 2004)

As reunions go, it was not a large one. After the May Day parade, about six people had gathered around the picnic table under the sign for the classes of 1968 and 1969.

The parade and the fields behind the school "really haven't changed a great deal," Becky Ballentine Preimesberger told the Almanac. As the conversation went on, however, and memories returned, things were a little different back then.

The baseball diamond was square and on the other side of the campus and today's grassy areas were weeds and dirt back then, said Peter Struffenegger of the class of 1969. "That never stopped us," he said.

Kids used the weedy shrubberies to hide behind while smoking, he said. There were occasional field trips to the creek, where poison oak grew. Mr. Struffenegger recalled seeing a tarantula and at least one rattlesnake. And back then, if you took off a sweater and put it on the ground, you were likely to find a banana slug crawling around inside upon retrieving it. And it didn't crawl in there on its own.

Today, the parade marchers throw candy at the crowd. In the 1960s, the projectiles went in the other direction. Roberts Market would always sell out its stock of pea shooters on the day before the parade, said Mr. Struffenegger.

The parades were shorter then, too. With the marchers turning around at Roberts Market and marching back up the road, "It's twice as long, now," Mr. Struffenegger added.

-- David Boyce

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