By MATT PATNEAUDE

It started with a conversation in Honolulu. Nine months later, it had turned into a 600-boat spectacle on Green Lake.

Long-time Broadview resident Arden Aegerter, managing director of Seafair from 1967-1976, went to a conference of International Festival Association Managers in 1971.

Besides getting to visit Hawaii, the conference allowed Aegerter to talk with others in his line of work. At the conference, Aegerter met a festival manager from Minneapolis who told him about an event that had been a big success in his city the previous year, the Minneapolis Aqua-Tenial.

The Minneapolis Aqua-Tenial was a boat race, but not any old boat race. To enter, the boats had to be homemade and rely on empty milk cartons as their primary means of flotation. Contestants could only use human power to propel the boats. "It sounded like a terrific idea. I thought the people in Seattle would love it," recalls Aegerter.

Upon his return to the mainland, Aegerter discussed the idea with his Seafair staff. Their response was so strong that the inaugural Seattle version of the milk carton derby was slated to kick-off Seafair in 1972.

Securing the Washington State Dairy Association as a sponsor for the event was the first step in putting the derby together. Placards advertising the "Green Lake Milk Carton Boat Race" were placed in milk sections of stores throughout the area. "The milk industry got behind it 100 percent," says Aegerter.

Soon, drive-ins, restaurants, milk distributors, and trash bins around the city were being raided as people stockpiled milk cartons in their garages or backyards. Aegerter says that offering a total of $5,000 in prize money was important in getting people excited about constructing their own vessels.

One promotional tactic that Aegerter used was writing letters to the Navy stationed in Bremerton and the Army at Fort Lewis. He challenged each of the military groups to out do the other. "I wrote to the Navy and said 'Are you going to let the Army beat you guys?' and then turned around and wrote the same thing to the Army," says Aegerter.

In fact, the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis received orders from their superiors to construct a boat and "beat the Navy."

In a special race at the inaugural Seafair milk carton derby, a battleship constructed by the Navy at Bremerton went on to out race an amphibious tank that was brought by the Fort Lewis Army soldiers.

About 600 other boats joined the Navy and Army entries at the 1972 milk carton boat race. According to Aegerter, about 25 percent of the boats at the inaugural event capsized. "It was something new. A lot of people didn't know how to build them," he says.

Rescue boats with small outboard motors patrolled the race, but some crew members didn't abandon their sinking ships, side-stroking and scissor-kicking to the finish line.

While many of the crafts were unsophisticated, with plywood sheets and 2x4s supported by milk cartons, others were elaborate. Winning the Seafair prize for best design was the "Three Fingered Jack," a 14-foot pirate boat with 600 milk cartons, a cannon, and several sails.

Other artistic vessels included a green-and-white miniature Washington ferry, the "Green Loch Milk Monster," and a 38-foot Greek galley. The Greek galley used 6,000 milk cartons and was powered by eight oarsmen.

Winning the sailboat division at the first milk carton race was a boat builder and designer named John Anderson. Placing 1,000 half-pint and 100 half-gallon cartons in mathematically precise rows, Anderson's 16-foot vessel outclassed the other entries.

Local television and both of the big daily newspapers were on hand to cover the first milk carton derby. The excitement generated that first year has continued for nearly three decades.

While many other Seafair events haven't survived the years, local residents still collect milk cartons throughout the year to float their imaginative water crafts.

"It's a fun event for the whole family. People get really involved in it," says Aegerter.