TRAVERSE CITY — The age-old tradition of pranking people on April Fools’ Day was alive and well on Monday when 82-year-old Herb Lemcool announced on social media that he was returning to Traverse City from Florida to run – yet again – for public office.
At about 9 a.m., the veteran political leader posted the following message on his Facebook account:
“After much thought and the fact that not enough people are running for office I have decided to run for Garfield Township Supervisor. With 16 years of being a County Commissioner I attended many township meetings and feel I would have much to give to the residents of Garfield Township. I would love to have everyone’s vote. Thank you.”
Lemcool’s spurious post was in response to an editorial in Sunday’s Record-Eagle that bemoaned the shortage of candidates for county and township offices.
By Monday evening, more than 50 people around the area had responded to his “candidacy announcement.” Others contacted the newspaper to share the “unexpected” news.
Then, fact-checking
Beginning with a dose of skepticism (given the April 1 date), a Record-Eagle reporter reached out to more than a dozen local sources to verify the announcement. Many calls went unanswered or unreturned. The clock was ticking.
Finally, as the deadline approached, the mystery was solved:
Ron Lemcool, the Long Lake Township supervisor, answered his office phone. After a little bit of good-natured prompting, Ron confirmed that his dad, Herb, was indeed playing a prank, which they devised together on Sunday afternoon.
“At one point we were going to say that [my dad] was actually selling his house [in Florida] and relocating year-round to Garfield Township,” Ron said. “My dad has a great sense of humor.”
When Herb himself was reached by telephone, he confessed with a loud laugh.
“Yes, it was a joke!” he chuckled. “I’m glad it got some attention!”
Community service
Now retired, Herb Lemcool is a well-known local leader and retired businessman with a long list of accomplishments to his name. He served as a Grand Traverse County commissioner for 16 years, and was also involved with the National Cherry Festival for more than 40 years, not to mention his volunteer work with the Boy Scouts, Rotary, Jaycees and the senior core of retired executives.
He ran C&H Maintenance for 47 years before turning the business over to family.
Lemcool used his business experience to help guide the county’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, iEconomic Development Corporation and the Grand Traverse Redevelopment Corp., which led up to the eventual re-development of the former state hospital into The Village at Grand Traverse Commons.
He also was involved with the Community Mental Health Board, the Department of Human Services Board and the Bay Area Transportation Authority.
A graduate of Traverse City Central High School, Herb studied business management at Davenport University.
In 2016, Lemcool earned the “Distinguished Service Award” from the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce (now known as Traverse Connect).
Today, Herb spends half the year at a home near Bradenton, Florida, and the other six months in this area. He lost his beloved wife, Barbara, last summer. Like himself, Barb was very active in local nonprofit and professional groups, from the United Way to the Poverty Reduction Initiative of Northwest Michigan.
Creation mystery
Historians know that pranking on April 1 goes back many centuries. However, they disagree about the exact origins of April Fools’ Day.
Some scholars trace the tradition back to 1392 when “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer first appeared. In one of the tales, a vain rooster named “Chauntecleer” is tricked by a fox into believing that March began 32 days ago.
Another popular theory goes back to April 1698 when several English people were tricked into going to the famous Tower of London “to see the lions washed.” Writer John Aubrey of that era referred to the celebration as “Fooles holy day.”
Still other historians believe the day of tradition refers to “foolish people” who refused to abandon the Julian calendar when the more accurate Gregorian calendar was implemented in 1582.