The “mayor” sits on his chair in his small alpine office on Cannon Mountain in Franconia. His bundled up constituents outside the glass window wave as they fly past him. He waves, too, watching them intently.
Allan Girard of Franconia, 65, has been the man at Cannon’s Zoomer triple lift for more than 30 years. He has been at the lift since 1984 and at the mountain since 1980. But Girard doesn’t ski.
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