It was one of the best kept secrets of the Barnum Festival – Who were the Volunteers of the Year for 2003?

 There was plenty of speculation, plenty of strong candidates. When Marge and Mel Cunningham heard their names called as the Barnum Festival Volunteers of the Year Wednesday at the annual Volunteer Picnic at the Beardsley Zoo, they were stunned – delighted, of course, but blown away. As Volunteers of the Year, they received the special Festival Volunteers of the Year hats, which they will wear proudly, they say.

 “It was wonderful. We didn’t know,” Marge said. “We had no inkling. We were blown away by the whole thing. It was great because we had a lot of family there.”

 The Cunninghams joined the Festival nine years ago working with the then Prince & Princess competition (for Middle School children). Since then, they’ve been hooked on the Festival and never looked back. The Cunninghams have served many roles, working behind the scenes. They’ve worked on the Great Street Parade, chaired Cabaret Night and the Name the Elephant Contest, coordinated the float construction for this year’s Great Street Parade, served as executive aides for the 2003 Ringmaster and sit on the Barnum Marketing Committee.

 “We’re delighted. Once you get involved you get hooked,” Mel said. “Now that we were named Volunteers of the Year, were hooked even more. We love working on the events and with all the people.”

 Marge thought co-chairing the Name the Elephant Contest was most enjoyable, which drew more than 400 entries for the new Barnum Festival mascot, Spirit. Since then, Mel jokes that he’s become Spirit’s caretaker and appears as the elephant’s guide, often wearing a pith helmet and safari jacket. During the contest that took place from March through April, the joke around the Festival was the best name for the elephant should be “Melephant” since Mel was so involved with it.

 Mel liked supervising and working on the floats for the parade in the Barnum Barn on Federal Street. Festival volunteers put in a total of hundreds of hours, but it was all worthwhile when they saw the beautifully decorated floats rolling down the street in the parade. “We like to give a hundred percent when we have something to do,” Mel said. “We just step on the gas and go.”

 As kids in Bridgeport, the Cunninghams grew up with the Barnum Festival, which began in 1949 to create community spirit and fun for the Greater Bridgeport area. Mel remembers watching the Great Street Parade from his grandmother’s house on Bridgeport’s Park Ave. and enjoying the floats and bands. Mel, vice president of Banner Systems in Milford, has always enjoyed music and played an electric guitar as a teenager in one of the leading area rock bands, the Burgundies. At this year’s Volunteer picnic, Mel and three other volunteers sang a Doo-Whop song acapella to honor Len Berger, the Festival ringmaster.

A Literacy Coach at Luis Munoz Marin School, Marge has fond memories of the Festival, growing up on the East Side. She attended Festival events with her parents - one of her favorites was seeing the late Bobby Darrin at the Ballyhoo Show at Hedges Stadium. Marge also was honored as a teacher and rode on the “Teacher-Of-The-Year” float in the Great Street Parade.

 Over the years, the Cunninghams have involved their entire family, three sons, Kyle, Scott and Collin. Kyle was involved with the Festival Antique Car Show & Flea Market. Even their extended family has worked on the Festival. Mel’s sister, Nancy Scerbo and her husband, Bill and Marge’s sister and husband, Pat and Larry Loux and their kids as well as Marge’s brother Bill Ellison, his wife, Jean, and their kids are all Festival volunteers.

 “We have very happy memories of the Barnum Festival from childhood,” Marge said. “Working on the Festival events brings back plenty of warm feelings. It’s also important for Bridgeport to have the Festival. It’s something for Bridgeport to be proud of. We’re honored to be Volunteers of the Year. It still feels like a dream, though. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing with people calling to congratulate us.”