PLATTSBURGH -- For Rene Demers and many others, the common thread of the 15th-annual Senior Celebration was seeing old friends.

"I think this is an excellent event," said the retired high-school teacher, 76. "It gets people together, and we see a lot of old timers coming in."

May honors senior citizens, said Clinton County Office for the Aging Director Crystal Carter, and that's the reason the celebration was born all those years ago.

"A couple of agencies got together -- I think mostly it was the Senior Citizens Council and the Office for the Aging," she said. "We got together and said, What can we do for Older Americans Month that would be special and a lot of fun? "

A VERY GOOD DAY

Before the Senior Center moved to the former Seton Catholic Central building, the Senior Celebration was held at the City of Plattsburgh's Crete Memorial Civic Center.

"It was too big," Carter said. "This (the Senior Center) is nice. It is intimate, and we can fit 400, 500 people." Thirty-plus informational booths from various agencies and businesses were set up in the gym for the event, which also included speakers, music, dancing and, of course, food.

Cortney Braun, assistant marketing and social director at Evergreen Valley Nursing Home in Plattsburgh, found herself very busy at her table.

"It's great to see the seniors out running around and getting information on what is going on in Clinton County."

Dorothy Perry, 81, and her friend, Dorothy Giroux, 73, are frequent visitors and also volunteer at the Senior Center. They attended the celebration.

"It is a very good day," Perry said, raising her voice over an elderly "Elvis" as karaoke began. "We've been coming here for a long time. We come here to the Senior Center to play cards -- pinochle on Tuesday afternoons -- and we love it."

Both ladies said that the day allowed them to socialize with friends they hadn't seen for a while.

FRIENDSHIP CENTRAL

North Country Center for Independence Executive Director Andrew Pulrang raised another idea.