ca. 1926. Local beauty Ethel Haasarud, modelling a marcelled bob hairstyle, posed for photographer Chapin Bowen in 1926. In that same year, she took second place in the disputed Miss Tacoma beauty contest held July 5th. She represented the Pantages Theater in the contest. The Tacoma News Tribune did a feature story on the Lincoln High School graduate in the March 25th, 1931 issue. At that time she was working in the box office at the Pantages. The article mentioned that it was the day after her birthday, but she refused to give the year. (TNT 3/25/1931 p.3)

ca. 1926. The lovely Ethel Haasarud, a Lincoln High School graduate, was the runner up in the hotly disputed Miss Tacoma contest July 5, 1926. Around that time, she worked for a Tacoma photographer, probably Chapin Bowen who took this timeless glamor photograph of her. By 1931, she was working in the box office at the Pantages Theater, whom she had represented in the Miss Tacoma contest. She was born March 24 in Minnesota. Her family came to Tacoma in 1919. (TNT 3/25/1931 p.3) For a more contemporary portrait, see image 3.

On December 3, 1926, a quartet of salesgirls from the Rhodes Brothers department store departed from their usual duties to pose with four of the prize winning chickens from the 29th Annual Tacoma Poultry Show. The girls are, left to right, Isabel Kearns with a Rhode Island Red Cockerel, Irene (Iva) Ratcliffe with a Buff Orpington Cockerel, Evangeline (Vangie) Harrod with a white Wyandotte hen and Grace Rutchoe (identified as Grace Moore in same paper) with a Buff Plymouth pullet. The photographs from this publicity stunt were to be shown around the country to promote Tacoma. The 29th Annual Tacoma Poulty Show was held at South 10th Street and A from November 30th through December 5th. (TNT 12/5/1926, pg. G-8; group picture pg. G-3; TDL 12/5/1926, pg. G8- similar picture)

On December 3, 1926, a bevy of beautiful Rhodes sales girls swooped down on the annual Tacoma Poultry Show, selected their favorite prize winning poultry and literally took them for a ride. The ride was in a new Buick, provided by Mueller- Harkins Motor Co.; proving that the Buick's smooth ride would not ruffle the feathers of the favored fowl. Pictured left to right are Christine and Sallie Jean Collier (not associated with Rhodes), Zelma Metzker, Neva Reed, Evangeline (Vangie) Harrod, Sybil Lea, Grace Moore, Isabel Kearns, Irene Ratcliffe, Lucille Vosberg, Gladys Rodside and Florence Oberg. (TNT 12/5/1926, pg. G-3)

A crowd of several hundred people celebrated the arrival of the Pacific Air Transport Co.'s mail carrier plane at the municipal airport on April 15, 1928. It was the inauguration of the new American Railway Express Co. air service provided for Tacoma in conjunction with Pacific Air Transport's mail carriers. Tacoma Chamber of Commerce president John Dower took his first plane ride during the event as pilot J. Barton Story took him to greet the incoming express plane from the air. (TNT 4-16-28, p. 7, TDL 4-15-28, 8-A)

John MacKessy, 13, smiled for the camera from his stretcher during the trial run on December 24, 1929 for his big Christmas Day outing. It would be his first Christmas Day out of bed in three years. He and 125 other children were guests at a Christmas party on the USS Lexington, which was tied up at Baker Dock helping to supply electricity to Tacoma. The trip was supplied by the Tacoma Sciots, a Masonic social group, that took care of the boy. Pictured, left to right, were Maurice Raymond (club sec.), John G. Thorstenson (pres.), Chief of Police M.D. Guy and officer Dick Rodius who drove the boy. He was transported in a police paddy wagon. Young MacKessy suffered from inflammation in the bones of his feet, legs and hips and his family needed assistance to care for him properly. (TNT 12/24/1929, pg. 3)

Showing off her freckled face and bobbed hair, Margaret Wheeler posed serenely with a Lady Craig rose at the Tacoma Rose Show, which was held at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, 5 South G Street, on June 17, 1927. The young miss looked off camera with her large dark eyes, possibly listening to directions from the photographer. The Lady Craig was being shown for the first time at the Rose Show. It was one of 1,000 entries in the 16th annual show, the largest display in years. The event was sponsored by the Tacoma Rose Society. (TNT 6/17/1927, pg. 1)

The funeral for Thea Christiansen (Mrs. Andrew) Foss, founder of Foss Maritime and community leader. Mrs. Foss was so widely admired in the community for her compassion and charity that her funeral was the largest that Tacoma had seen to date. All of the trademark green and white flags of the Foss Co. flew at half mass in honor of "Mother Foss." Immigrants from Norway, Andrew and Thea Foss arrived in Tacoma the spring of 1889. While Andrew took what work he could find, Thea started the family business with the purchase of 1 rowboat for $5, all the money that she had. With shrewd business moves and hard work, the Foss family parlayed that one rowboat into the one of the largest maritime companies in the country. Thea Foss never forgot her origins and continued to aid Scandinavian immigrants offering them food, lodging, work and the family they so sorely missed. Mrs. Foss was never idle, running the company's office, store and boarding house for its workers. She also found time to nurse the sick, help the needy and fulfill her purpose in life- to be of service to others. TPL-8662, BGN 589

The 1936 Daffodil court is getting out of their vehicle at the base of the reviewing stand on So. 10th Street & Pacific, a 35-feet-high, four-tiered structure covered with 200,000 daffodils. They will ascend to the first daffodil covered platform to view the parade as it passes by. The pylon was the photo opportunity of the third annual Daffodil Festival. The old bank building at 10th and Pacific, overhead streetcar wires, and the ruins of The Tacoma Hotel punctuate the background. (T. Times 4/20/1936, pg. 3)

Queen Margaret I, Margaret Thomas of Sumner, and her four attendants pose on their Daffodil Parade float on March 23, 1935. The attendants are, left to right, Irma Jane Janig, Sumner; Billie Barto, Puyallup; Olive Chervenka, Sumner; and Evelyn Mellinger of Tacoma. The 1935 parade was the second annual.

This undated photograph featuring the Corner Club Girls rolling down Broadway at 9th Street is most probably of the historical pageant parade presented Labor Day 1934. The costumed lovelies are from Pioneer Days and are festooned in ruffles, bonnets and parasols. The Tacoma Corner Club was formed by Mrs. Percy C. Smith who served as advisor and was fondly referred to as "Mother Smith." The women of the Tacoma Corner Club hosted dinners, dances, plays, took classes in bookkeeping, first aid, shorthand, the Bible, among others, and supported one another. They presented a flag to the State Historical Society in 1933. The original club was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1917. (Additional information provided by a reader)

ca. 1936. This float was entered by the city of Puyallup in the Daffodil Parade in the mid to late 1930s. Daffodils and crepe paper streamers cover the truck where uniformed Girl Scouts ride on the bed. The girls hold an American flag and a second flag, possibly the Washington state flag.

Float sponsored by the City of Tacoma in the 1936 Daffodil Parade, symbolizing the city's dominance in public utilities. In the forefront are three rearing horses pulling a large wheel. A large dynamo is in the back, an emblem of the power of the hydroelectric plants. (TDL 4/19/1936, pg. 1)

Weda Claire Dykeman smiles from inside a daffodil during the 1936 Daffodil Parade. Weda Claire is the daughter of Doug Dykeman. (T. Times 4/20/1936, pg. 3)

On this float in the 1936 Daffodil Parade, the flower vase has tipped over, sending the daffodils and the smiling girls they hold to the ground. Peeking around the edge of her flower is Mary Frances Cavanaugh, left, and in the other blossom is Weda Claire Dykeman. Mary Frances is the daughter of Cecil Cavanaugh, of Cavanaugh Lumber Co., and Weda Claire is the daughter of Doug Dykeman. (T. Times 4/20/1936, pg. 3)

Daffodil Parade float entry by KMO radio, a floral representation of a microphone with the call letters KMO. The float was probably an entry in the 1936 parade. Several patches of daffodils in the outer ring of the microphone are missing showing the chicken wire base.

ca. 1935. The Rotary Club, almost always represented in the Daffodil Parade, entered this flower covered car in one of the early parades, most likely 1935. The automobile has so many flowers that even the wheels are covered with their own bouquets.

This float in the 1936 Daffodil parade carries the K Street emblem mounted on an axis and describing the K Street business sector as the "Hub of Activity." The float is offered by the K Street Business Mens' Association The floral tribute is built on the bed of a large truck. (T. Times 4/20/1936, pg. 3)

ca. 1938. This float was entered by the city of Sumner in a mid to late 1930's Daffodil Parade. The driver's head can be seen at the center of the float. In the back, two girls in Dutch costumes ride in chairs.

Two young girls with bouquets of daffodils ride atop the Rotary Club of Tacoma's float in the 1940 Daffodil Parade. The focus point of the Rotary Club float is the gigantic globe, with the continents marked out with daffodils. The floats are lined up in a staging area prior to the parade. See Series D9587 image 19 for a Richards Studio photograph taken at almost the same exact time. TPL-2941

Governor Clarence D. Martin rides in an open car for the Labor Day parade in 1934. Gov. Martin sits on the left side of the rear seat of the automobile, beside him sits Mayor George Smitley's wife dressed in white; the man on the right is unidentified. Tacoma Mayor Smitley rides next to the driver in the front seat. The group rides past the Bostwick Building, 755-71 Saint Helens Ave., at this time occupied by William Whetstone, the Credit Dentist. In the background, streetcars are parked to accomodate the passing of the parade. Later the same group would oversee the dedication of the relocated and reconstructed Fort Nisqually at Point Defiance.

Sumner's entry in the 1940 Daffodil Parade was this floral cross section of a daffodil. Each daffodil petal is occupied by a girl. The girls wear white dresses. The float appears to be lined up in a staging area. One can only wonder if there were also five girls on the other side of the float, or if this float could only be fully appreciated from one side. The Tacoma Times calls the float a giant paddle wheel, a-la a Mississippi riverboat, with a girl in each paddle. See D9587 image 4 for another view of the float. (T. Times 3/30/1940, pg. 1)

A young rider, dressed in chaps and a flower decorated hat, posed on a daffodil festooned horse ready to ride in the first annual Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival parade on March 17, 1934. The main viewing area was 11th & Pacific, where the parade passed with daffodil bedecked autos, busses, bicycles, carts and horses, as well as marching bands and drill teams. Still reeling from the Great Depression, business and club entries in the first parade were modest when compared to later years.

Margaret Thomas, crowned Queen Margaret I of the 1935 Greater Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival, smiles serenely over her bouquet of daffodils. The twenty three year old from Sumner was the first Queen chosen in an actual contest. Queen Margaret was selected from a field of ten candidates. The very first Festival Queen, Mrs. Elizabeth Lee Wooten, was selected by a committee without a contest. Until the mid-1950s, the Queen was always from Sumner or Puyallup, the birthplaces of the daffodil industry.

Billye Fairchild, Frankie Cowan and Betty Brumbaugh pose in flowered spring gowns and picture hats in a field of yellow daffodils advertising the first Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival in March of 1934. The brainchild of Tacoman Lee Merrill, the first Festival had a tight budget of $600 and not many supporters. The parade, then called the procession, took place on March 17,1934. It began at Union Station and wound its way through downtown Tacoma, followed by Puyallup, Sumner & Orting. Area businesses and clubs, still recovering from the Great Depression, contributed decorated horses, bicycles, busses, autos and a few floats plus marching bands and drill units. The Queen, Elizabeth Lee Wooten, was selected a few days prior to the Festival as she walked down a city street in Puyallup. TPL-3148

ca. 1935. This float was entered in one of the very early Daffodil Festival parades, most likely 1935. A grass covered car is topped by a daffodil basket in which sit two charming cherubs. The two children are dressed formally, he in top hat and tails and she in a white bonnet. The floats at this time period were very simple; usually flower covered cars or mounted on the flat beds of small trucks.

The Rotary Club, a perennial entrant in the Daffodil Parade, entered this flower bedecked emblem of Rotary International in the 1936 parade. The word "Service" is emblazoned on the side of the float.

Tacoma loves a good parade and Labor Day of 1934 was no exception. The Chamber of Commerce float bears Miss Tacoma, Queen of the Labor Day festivities and the Seattle Potlatch, Roberta Cohoon, down the parade route. She is attended by Margie Christen, left, and Eleanor Layton. The parade preceded the dedication ceremony for the relocated and restored Fort Nisqually. (TDL 9/4/1934, pg. 1)

This daffodil decorated horse and driver were one of the entries in the first Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival parade in 1934. The two wheeled cart was advertising Will Rogers in the motion picture "David Harem" playing at the Roxy Theater. Most of the entries in the first parade were modest when compared to later years. The parade began at Union Station, travelled through downtown Tacoma then on to Puyallup, Sumner and Orting.

An enthusiastic crowd watched in awe as the first Daffodil Parade rolled by in 1934. The parade, designed to use the leftover daffodil blooms that were formerly thrown away when the bulb was harvested, has become a much anticipated annual feature of the spring festival. There has been a parade every year since 1934, with the exception of the war years of 1943, 1944 and 1945. In 1934, the parade consisted of decorated horses, bicycles, flower covered automobiles and a few floats. It started at Union Station and continued uptown. It later travelled to Puyallup, Sumner and Orting. In this photograph, two flower bedecked automobiles pass by delighted spectators.