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This was “one of the many floats which lent colour in the St. Jean Baptiste Day parade” on June 24, 1940, we reported in the next day’s edition. Readers would have had to take our word for it. This photo from our archives is black-and-white, as was the similar one that appeared in the Montreal Gazette June 25, 1940.

The figures on the float “portray St. John the Baptist as he appeared before King Herod to plead for ‘moral rights and justice,’ ” we wrote.

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Our lengthy story recounted many details: 100,000 people lined Sherbrooke St. for the annual parade. It began at Lafontaine Park and ended at Atwater Ave., taking about two hours to pass any given point. Police did a good job of managing traffic, allowing cars to cross Sherbrooke Street every 15 minutes or so, when there was a lag in the parade.

“From Lafontaine Park, near Notre Dame Hospital, as far as Atwater Ave., every available inch of space was filled long before the time the parade was scheduled to pass. Children had first places, and made themselves comfortable on the curb under the watchful eyes of officers of the Montreal Police Department,” we reported.