Craig McNamara, Saint Paul MN native born and bred, found this poster and gave it to me ostensibly because my next-door-neighbor Casey Jones aka Roger Awsumb was featured as a special guest (so was Barry ZeVan the weatherman -- but I didn't know him personally). I loved the artwork and it was a nice piece from the past.
But then I got to wondering who the host of the parade, this "Super Mayor" was. A little research gleaned from WFMU’S Beware of the Blog uncovered the following:
“From 1970 to 1972, the city of Saint Paul, MN was led by colorful Mayor Charlie McCarty who won the election as an independent candidate. He was both loved and hated by many for his unpredictable words and deeds, but never failed to entertain.
He earned the nickname "Supermayor" due to his penchant for patrolling the streets of the city at all hours of the night in his hand-picked Lincoln Continental (dubbed the "Supercar") which was decked out in all manner of police and fire radios… [using] the newly modern technology… that allowed him to switch red [street] lights to green while he tooled around town with his driver.
An incident where Mayor McCarty helped apprehend a disorderly patron at a White Castle restaurant was the genesis of a weekly "Supermayor" comic strip by Jerry Fearing in the local paper.”
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