|
| |
(We would like to thank the Kent Historical Society & Museum, the White River
Museum, the King County Journal for contributing to this history page.
Kent Lions Club member Bill Westcott has spent many years researching this
festival and is responsible for putting together the following.)
History
of Kent Cornucopia Days
The Kent Cornucopia Days has a long and historical presence in Kent.
In the 1890's, the community of Kent had some form of a "Festival" to celebrate
that harvest of the lettuce in the Kent Valley, which at the time was a well known lettuce
farming region of the country. However, details are very spotty about the festival
or event during this time period.
We
do however have documentation of the 1st annual "Kent Lettuce Festival" in 1934,
a run that ended in 1937 (we do have some evidence that it
also accord in 1938). This four year run was
primarily sponsored by the Kent American
Legion. Also involved with the event were the Kent Commercial Club (which became the
Kent Lions Club in 1938), the Kent Breakfast Club, the Kent Eagles, the Kent Kiwanis Club,
the Young Men's Breakfast Club, and the Izaak Walton League. The festival ended
when its chief promoter William Harn left the area for Bellingham, where he soon became
Mayor. You should also note that this is the time of the "Great
Depression" (starting at the end of 1929 until the early 1940's) and "World War
II" (which for our country was from 1941 until 1945).
Shortly
after World War II, the festival was resurrected and ran for several years starting in
1946 and was known as the "Cornucopia Festival" to represent the now newly
diversified crops being grown in the Kent Valley. We
are not sure who organized it at this time, but there was a group that was
formed and incorporated in 1951 at "Kent Cornucopia Inc". This group
appears to have run the festival until the end of 1954 when the Kent
American Legion was asked to run this festival, and ran (we believe) until
at least 1965. It is unknown why it ended this time around.
We are not sure yet
if a "festival" per se was in existence
during the years of 1965 - 1969. However,
there was a short lived "Home Show" that was held indoors for a couple of years
during this time period. It was advertised as a resurrection of the "Cornucopia
Festival". The chairman of this event was area businessman and Kent Lions Club
member Ed Jahn.
We do have documentation of the
Ezra Meeker Days in 1969 & 1970, and possibly 1971 from a very short news clip
but not much else.
Then
in 1971 (with the first festival held in 1972), the Kent Lions and other community
organizations (all now non-existent except for the Kent Lions
Club) named the festival "Meeker Days" since the club's Street Fair took
place on only a couple of blocks along Meeker Street (named after the Ezra
Meeker business). Credit for founding this newer festival goes to Dave
Hillemeyer, a Kent Lion and original chairman of the festival. The
Kent Lions worked closely with the Kent Federated Women's Club (no longer in
existence), and together these two groups brought our festival through it
formative years.
In
1980, it was agreed that the City of Puyallup would retain the title of "Meeker
Days" due too the Ezra Meeker Mansion being in that city even though Meeker Street in
Kent was named after the same man. In that decision, the Kent Lions agreed to
have the Kent Festival renamed to "Cornucopia Days" (after the downtown
association of merchants in Kent, which owned the rights to that title, disbanded its
corporation) an adaptation from the 1940's when the event was known as the
"Cornucopia Festival", with a permanent theme of "The Festival of the
Valley". In 1981, we have the first appearance of "Kent Cornucopia Days
Festival". The Kent Lions Club exclusively maintains this festival, and our
festival is now commonly referred to as "Kent Cornucopia Days", "The
Festival of the Valley".
Our Logo
The current Kent
Cornucopia Days logo is a stylized version of the original logo produced by Kent
Lion John Solis in 1987. The original represented the “Kent Valley” between the
west & east hills with the Sun shinning above. The standard Cornucopia basket
was also incorporated in this artwork. The newer logo is a similar way of
representing that “Valley” & “Hills” with the “Sun”, which was started by the
Metro Advertising agency on one of our advertising campaigns and finalized in
its final version by Kent Lion Bill Westcott.
Coming Soon - History by topics
-
Who or what did the festival benefit
-
Festival Parades over the years
-
Who owned or controlled the festival
-
Festival Royalty over the years
-
Other long term events within the festival
-
Logo's and Buttons over the years
Historic newspaper clippings
"Queen
to Start Lettuce Train of 50 Cars"
Sitting
in the cab of a huge engine at 1:30 Saturday afternoon, June 9, a beautiful Kent young
lady will pull the throttle that will send rolling on its way to eastern markets a great
train of 50 cars loaded with Kent grown lettuce. The young lady at the throttle will
be the queen of Kent's first annual lettuce festival. While the great lettuce train
is not an unusual sight in Kent during the lettuce harvest, it will tend to give visitors
some idea of the importance of the Green River Valley as a lettuce producing section.
Each of the 50 cars will contain 300 crates averaging five dozen heads to the
crate. That means 18,000 heads of lettuce to the car or a total of 900,000 for the
entire train.
Balloting
on the selection of the queen will close next Saturday evening at 6 o'clock. Results
will be announced as soon as possible. Progress made by the vote counters will be
announced by loud speaker at the Kent theater Saturday night, according to arrangements
made with Manager Czerny. There will be no appeal from the findings of the judges. Interest
in the selection of queen continues to grow and rivalry between the various candidates is
keen but friendly. Her
Royal Highness will have a busy day Saturday, June 9. She will be crowned at 1
o'clock by Mayor-Elect Smith of Seattle, unveil the world's largest salad, and officiate
at all the various activities during the day. She, with her court and maids of
honor, will occupy a place of honor in the big parade scheduled to start at 7 o'clock, and
lead the grand march which will open the big street dance at 9 o'clock.
(From"
The Kent Advertiser-Journal" - 1934)
(Courtesy of the
Kent Historical Society & Museum)
"Queen's
Float Takes Seattle Parade Honors"
Entered in Seattle's two-mile long fourth of July parade the Kent Lettuce Festival Float
bearing Queen June Miller and her attendants was awarded first place in the non-commercial
float section. The large cream and white float
was constructed by the Kent post of the American Legion Auxiliary and was first exhibited
as the Queen's float in the Lettuce Festival parade two weeks ago. As the artistic float was drawn along, Queen June
sat on a raised dais studded with imitations of the famous Kent lettuce and surrounded by
her court. (This
predates SEAFAIR, which started in 1949)
(From
"The Kent News-Journal" - July 9th, 1937)
(Courtesy of the
Kent Historical Society & Museum)
"Final
Festival Meeting Held"
Appreciation
expressed for cooperation and assistance in making 1937 festival outstanding.
The
final meeting of the Kent Lettuce Festival Committee was held Wednesday night at the
offices of the Puget Sound Power and Light company to complete all business transactions
relative to the festival. All bills presented were paid and a small balance remained
in the treasury to be carried over for the 1938 festival.
General
chairman Ernest Engstrom and Commander W. J. Minehart of the Kent Post No. 15, American
Legion, expressed their appreciation to everyone who so loyally cooperated and assisted in
making the fourth annual festival an outstanding event.
Suggestions for improving the festival were received and studied by the
committee and filed for reference next year.
(From
"The Kent News-Journal" - July 9th, 1937)
(Courtesy of the
Kent Historical Society & Museum)
"Cornucopia
Festival
parade,
Kent,
July
26,
1947"
On
July
26,
1947,
Kent
held its
second
annual
Cornucopia
Festival to
raise
money for a
war
memorial
gymnasium.
Festival
events
included a
parade
through the
downtown
area, a
carnival, and
other
activities.
Teamsters
Local
910
provided a
wagon
pulled by
two
draft
horses to
carry the
festival's
queen. In this
photo, the
crowd
watches as the
queen and her
attendants
ride by.
(From
"The
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer" -
July
28,
1947)
(Courtesy of the
Kent Historical Society & Museum)
"A
Kent Cornucopia Program" - had the following on it
from the 1951 event:
The City of Kent welcomes you the annual Cornucopia Festival. This event
was planned for your enjoyment. All events are free and the Cornucopia
committee hopes you will attend all the functions. Let's not lose sight,
however, of the original purpose of this gala event. Let's get that
playfield built for the kids. If you have not yet purchased a ticket on
the Chevrolet to be awarded at the street dance, Saturday night, by all means do
so, now. Remember, every dollar goes toward building the playfield.
Tickets can be obtained from any Kent Merchant. Friday, July 13 - Free
Street Dance at the new Safeway Parking Lot - 9:00pm. Saturday, July 14 -
10 am Kids Program at the High School Field, races, contests, games. 11 am
4H and FFA Fair at Strain's Auto on 409 West Meeker. 1:30 pm Flag Raising,
Kent City Park, 1st & Meeker. 2:00 pm, Renton Civil Air Patrol, sky
demonstration. 2:30 pm, Kent Cornucopia Parade, starts at West Meeker and
Milwaukee tracks, goes east to Central and thence north to High School.
4:00 pm, Entertainment and exhibitions at High School field, King County
Sheriff's Posse, Renton Eagle's Auxiliary Drill Team, Lake City Twirlers, Auburn
Eagle Auxiliary Drill Team, Sumner Fire Department. 5:00 pm, Pee Wee
Baseball game, all star teams at High School Field. 6:30 pm, Band Concert,
Kent Valley Band in the City Park. 7:00 pm, Fastball with Van's Shoe Store
versus Renton Cowboys at High School Field. 9:00 pm, Free Street Dance,
new Safeway parking lot. 12:00 midnight, awarding of Powerglide Chevrolet,
Safeway Parking Lot.
(From the Kent Lions Club archives)
"Jaeger
Elected Head of 1952 Cornucopia"
A.
E, "Gus" Jaeger, manager of the Kent branch, National Bank of Washington, has
been elected president of Kent Cornucopia Inc. for the coming year. Board members of the festival group cast a
unanimous ballot for Jeager Tuesday night. Jaeger, though comparatively new to the
Kent Cornucopia committee, is experienced in activities of this type. He was
active in civic promotion work while at Kalama. Dr.
Mel Charbonneau, optometrist, was elected vice-chairman of the group.
Re-elected to their respective positions for another year were Alex Thornten, treasurer,
and Lillian Painter, secretary. Several
standing committee heads were also named. These include Thornton, finance; Gib
Austin, publicity; and Owen Buxton, special events and projects. Parade and
membership committee chairman will be named within two weeks. Recommendations on the method of selecting a queen
for this year will be brought to the Cornucopia meeting of February 26 by Mrs. Larry
Seeman, Mrs. Al Baines, and Mrs. Christin Sipe. A promise of help on this year's
festival came from Mayor Dave Mooney who stated that an easing of city business this year
would give him enough time to work on the celebration.
Mooney and Larry Seeman, a former city councilman, also discussed a proposal
for financing construction of a Kent municipal auditorium.
The Cornucopia group further decided to press the city park board for
further improvement of the nine-acre park site on North Central this year as an incentive
in promotion of the 1952 event.
(From
"The Kent News-Journal" - February 14, 1952)
(Courtesy of the
Kent Historical Society & Museum)
"Cake-eating
contest at
Cornucopia
Festival,
Kent,
July
13,
1956"
Kent,
Washington's
second
annual
Community
Festival
opened on
Friday,
July
13,
1956, and
ran for
three
days.
During the
first
day,
area
youngsters
entered
cake-eating
contests and
boys
competed to
catch a
greased
pig or
climb a
slippery
pole. The
festival also
featured a
parade, the
crowning of a
queen,
livestock
judging and a
farm
show.
In this
photo of the
girls'
cake-eating
contest,
taken at the
1956
Kent
Community
Festival,
one
girl
licks
cake
off of the
face of
another
girl as
other
children
look on in
delight. The
photographer
identified
three of the
girls as
Mary
Lou
Linnell,
Susan
Alf and
Sally
Johnson but
did not
specify
which was
which.
(From
"Seattle
Post-Intelligencer" -
July
16,
1956)
(Courtesy of the
Kent Historical Society & Museum)
"Miss
Cornucopia Days a 'community symbol'"
Reigning
as Miss Cornucopia Days means being a "community symbol" says 18-year-old Bonnie
Stewart.
Ms.
Stewart, runner-up in last year's Miss Kent pageant, will be queen of next July's
Cornucopia Days parade in downtown Kent. She also will give musical performances on
the stage during the three-day summer festival and will ride the Cornucopia Days float in
other parades.
Next
August, she will be Kent's entry in the Miss SEAFAIR pageant in Seattle.
A
lifelong Kent resident, Ms. Stewart is an engineering student at Green River Community
College with plans to transfer to a four-year program at the University of Washington.
Her father, Warren Stewart, is a Boeing engineering supervisor.
Ms.
Stewart is a pianist and flutist who gives beginner flute lessons. A 1981 Kentridge
High School Graduate, she is a member of the eight-month-old Christian music group,
Follower. The six musicians perform original tunes.
Of
the Miss Kent pageant, she recalls, "It wasn't a competition until the last couple of
weeks or so. It was fun, getting to know the girls. We were all going through
the same thing."
As
Miss Cornucopia Days, Ms. Stewart is appropriately enthusiastic about her hometown:
"I really like the area. I've traveled a little bit. It's the best place
I've been to, the most variety.
(From a newspaper clipping we have, no date or paper, but is from 1982)
(From the Kent Lions Club archives)
"Cornucopia
Days in Kent"
Planning
has gone into full gallop for Kent's Country-Western Cornucopia Days July 16, 17 and 18.
Twenty
committee members have net to update plans for the three-day celebration.
New
events this year will include the first downtown Kent bed race, to be sponsored by the
Northwest Washington Chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
The
race will be Sunday, July 18, at 12:30 p.m., on First Avenue, between Gowe and Smith
Street, preceding the Grand Parade.
There
will be trophies for first through third place and a special award for the best decorated
bed.
Entry
blanks and information can be obtained from Carole Henry, community chairperson, at the
Pied Piper Tavern, 852-9914, or the MDA offices, 624-5220.
A
new highlight of Cornucopia Days will be a "pops" concert by Rainier Symphony at
Kent Commons, Saturday evening. Conductor and music director Richard Polf has
selected music from popular hits, including Star Wars. Free Tickets will be
available starting July 1 in the City Hall, Library, Park Department, Senior Center and
Kent Commons.
As
in past years, Cornucopia Days will include a three-day street fair (booth space can be
reserved by telephoning 852-5466), the Kent Valley Artists art display and sale, merchants
sidewalk sale, Pipe Piper Men's Softball tournament, a carnival operations and live stages
and street entertainment.
The
grand final of the summer festival will be the grand parade, organized by Kiwanis Club of
Meridian. Persons wanting to enter floats or marching units can telephone 630-1111
for information
(From the Kent News Journal, June 16, 1982)
(Courtesy of the
Kent Historical Society & Museum)
History
prior to the 1930's Kent Lettuce Festival
In the 1890's, the
community of Kent had some form of a "Festival" to celebrate that harvest of the
lettuce in the Kent Valley, which at the time was a well known lettuce farming
region of the country. However, details are very spotty about the festival
or event during this time period. As we find any hard
evidence, we will place it here.
History
of the 1930's Kent Lettuce Festival
1st
Annual Kent Lettuce Festival
June 1934
Queen
Enes Genazzi
?
- Chairman
2nd
Annual Kent Lettuce Festival
June
1935
Queen
Thelma Saito
?
- Chairman
3rd
Annual Kent Lettuce Festival
June
1936
Queen
Opal Sorensen
?
- Chairman
4th
Annual Kent Lettuce Festival
June
1937
Queen
June Miller
E.
W. Engstrom - Chairman
5th
Annual Kent Lettuce Festival (tentative)
June
1938
Queen ?
? - Chairman
Not sure if the festival was held this year, still researching.
History
of our years between the Lettuce Festival and our current
modern annual festival
We are still researching our history and as we find
documented proof of our existence, we will publish it here.
1st Annual
Cornucopia Festival
July
1946
Queen ?
? - Chairman
2nd Annual
Cornucopia Festival
July
1947
Queen Winifred Day (From the Kent News Journal, July 21,
1949)
? - Chairman
Parade was on July 26th, 1947
3rd Annual
Cornucopia Festival
July
1948
Queen Kay Kruse along with Princess Carole Ward & Darlyne
More (Kent News Journal, July 9th, 1958 "Then & Now")
? - Chairman
4th Annual
Cornucopia Festival
July
1949
Queen ?
? - Chairman
A meeting was held on November 22nd, 1949 by 14 people interested in
incorporating the Kent Cornucopia Festival.
Minutes where taken for the first meeting of the "Kent Cornucopia Inc."
organization on December 1st, 1949
The first meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Kent Cornucopia Inc. was held
on December 14th, 1949
Elected to office was Howard Edline as President, Allan Sebastian as
Vice-President, Mrs. Thelma Alden
as Secretary, and Alex Thornton as Treasurer.
5th Annual
Cornucopia Festival
July
1950
Queen ?
Howard Edline - President
"With Kent's 5th Annual Cornucopia Celebration only 2 weeks away, the 1st of two
"Walking Concerts" by the Kent Valley Band will be given Saturday. (From
the July 13th, 1960 Kent News Reporter, p10, This Week, 1950)
6th Annual
Kent Cornucopia Festival
July
13 & 14th 1951
Queen ?
Howard Edline -
President
Kent Cornucopia Incorporated - Dedicated to the creation of a
Civic Recreation Park
The Sumner Fire Dept won 1st in the Parade Comics division, the Everett Ladies
VFW won the drill teams division,
the Auburn Drum & Bugle won the bands division, and the Kent-Meridian FFA won
the youth division.
The Douglas Greater Shows was the festival carnival operator.
A note was made that Kent Cornucopia entered a float into the SEAFAIR parade
The Woman's Club of Kent held a Coronation Ball
In April of this year, there was a letter sent out to several organization
requesting help to put on this event as it looked
like the event would not be held. It appears that the Kent Lions Club, the
B.P.W., the American Legion, the VFW, the
Teamsters, and the Chamber of Commerce stepped forward to help.
On Chamber of Commerce letterhead is a "Cornucopia" with the words "Home of the
Kent Cornucopia Festival".
The Chamber did not sponsor a Queen candidate this year as most of its members
also belonged to Service Organizations
that also sponsored candidates.
There where 55 entries into the parade.
Have a "Announcer" script with the phrase "Plan your time for fun time on July
13th and 14th at the SIXTH ANNUAL KENT
CORNUCOPIA...in Kent, Washington."
See the1951 "Program" info
above.
7th Annual
Kent Cornucopia Celebration (or Festival)
July
18 & 19th 1952
Queen Joann Bell
A. E. "Gus" Jaeger -
President of the Board of Directors, Manager of the National Bank of Washington,
Kent
The Kent Cornucopia Coronation was held on July 18th, 8:30
pm, at Kent-Meridian Junior High School Auditorium
Contestants: Joann Bell, Carol Sipe, Mary Osborne, Mary Jane Christensen,
Beverly Dolan, Joan Taylor, &
Joan Stafford
There where 41 entries in the parade
The Douglas Greater Shows was the festival carnival operator
There was a drawing for a 1952 Chevy Styleline Deluxe 4 door Sedan (cost $1,990)
from Kent Motors.
These groups appear to have been involved in this event: The Grange did the 4H
show, the Jaycees sold
buttons, the Business and Professional Women's Club did the Coronation and
Queen, the American Legion
Post did the wrestling, the Kent Lions Club the dance, street decorations and
reviewing stand for the parade
was by the Kent Fire Dept and Boy Scouts, the parade was put on by the Chamber
of Commerce, the policing
was done by the Civil Air Patrol, Boys Scouts, Kent Police, Sheriff's and State
Patrol, the Community Chorus
did the Barbershop Quartet, everyone sold tickets for the car, and the Kiwanis
Club also was involved.
A "Barbershop Quartet" Parade was held on July 19th
A "Antique Auto" Parade was also held on July 19th
People still referred to this event as the "Lettuce Festival" according to a
letter from Ted Carper of Seattle
8th Annual
Kent Cornucopia Celebration (or Festival)
July
16, 17 & 18th 1953
Queen ?
Owen Buxton - President
Parade assemble was at 12:30 pm, and started at 1:30 pm on
West Meeker St.
It was the Centennial Year for the Evergreen State and that was the parade theme
|
