1937 Daffodil Parade. Flag bearers from the Wild West Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars lead the way for the parade down Ninth Street to Pacific Avenue. They are followed by a marching band and a horseback unit. The bands represented in the 1937 parade were the Musicians Union, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) band, Lincoln High School and Stadium High School. The Motoramp Garage can be seen on the right. (T. Times, 4/10/1937, p. 1)

Parades & processions--Tacoma--1930-1940; Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1937 : Tacoma); Festivals--Tacoma; Marching bands--Tacoma--1930-1940;

1937 Daffodil Parade. Lincoln Citizen's Club float carrying Lincoln Business District's special Queen and her court. Six young women wearing daffodil crowns. The float, decorated with 30,000 daffodils, won Division II honors. (T. Times, 4/10/1937, p.1)

Parades & processions--Tacoma--1930-1940; Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1937 : Tacoma); Floats (Parades); Daffodils--Tacoma; Neighborhoods--Tacoma; Clubs--Tacoma; Lincoln Citizens Club (Tacoma);

Shriner Circus float in the 1956 Daffodil Parade on Pacific Avenue with North Pacific Plywood Inc. building in the background.. The float has a large clown head at the top and pushes a small see saw cart that is occupied with jesters. Two Shriners flank the float.

Pacific Lutheran Church's Parkland of Playland float in the 1956 Daffodil Parade on Pacific Avenue with North Pacific Plywood Inc. building and water tower in the background. A person rides under a candy cane canopy over the slogan, "Learn to Work, Play, Live Better."

United State Naval Reserve Station float in the 1956 Daffodil Parade on Pacific Avenue. The float has five people waving, including a somewhat obscured daffodil queen.

An unidentified float carrying five waving people in swim suits in the 1956 Daffodil Parade on Pacific Avenue with North Pacific Plywood Inc. building and water tower in the background.

Float for The Bon Marche with participants in a variety of different themes costumes 1954 Daffodil Parade. The sign at the top of the float reads, "United Good Neighbors Build Tacoma Youth."

Float for Puget Sound Vacationland depicting two people in a boat and with a large fish at the 1954 Daffodil Parade.

Float for the University Place Volunteer Fire Department with firefighters wearing masks at the 1954 Daffodil Parade.

Float for Tacoma Public Utilities with participants in dresses riding flanked by people in white suits and hats at the 1954 Daffodil Parade. Buildings with signage for BPOE and Moreland Ford Cars can be seen in the distance.

Daffodil Yacht Club Regatta race. Several boats on Commencement Bay with hill east of Browns Point in background.

Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1938 : Tacoma); Naval parades & ceremonies--Tacoma; Boats--Tacoma; Regattas--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma Yacht Club (Tacoma);

The Second Annual Tacoma Yacht Club Daffodil Festival Regatta was held on Sunday April 3, 1938. Daffodil Queen Bliss Lundrigan, wearing a captain's hat and cape, is shown at the helm of I.J. Leonard's cruiser "Gadget" with her attendants Bernice Daniel (seated on the helm) and Agnes Kucemba. Eighteen sail boats and forty power boats took part in the procession before a day of races.

Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1938 : Tacoma); Naval parades & ceremonies--Tacoma; Boats--Tacoma; Regattas--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma Yacht Club (Tacoma); Lundrigan, Bliss; Daniel, Bernice; Kucemba, Agnes;

Sixth Annual Daffodil Parade. "Spirit of Electricity" float. Three nymphs with lighting bolts for arms decorate front of float; young woman wearing crown and ermine coat and two men in uniform are at rear of float. (T. Times, 4/1/1939, p. 1)

Parades & processions--Tacoma--1930-1940; Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1939 : Tacoma); Floats (Parades)--Tacoma--1930-1940;

Sixth Annual Daffodil Parade. Pick-up truck pulls float for "Tacoma Parks" decorated with fir tree, flowering trees, daffodils and white doves. In the background: Tacoma Cut Rate Auto Supply, Cut Price Drugs, Strand Market (T. Times, 4/1/39, p. 1).

Parades & processions--Tacoma--1930-1940; Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1939 : Tacoma); Floats (Parades);

Sixth Annual Daffodil Parade, April 1, 1939; prize winning "Sons of Italy" float. Couple seated under gondola canopy with a singing gondolier at front of float portraying the city of Venice, Italy. Italians were among Tacoma's many ethnic groups in the 1930s. The 1939 parade took 40 minutes to pass and was nearly 2 miles long. There were 18 bands and 24 floats using 750, 000 daffodils. (T. Times 4/1/1939, pg. 1)

Parades & processions--Tacoma--1930-1940; Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1939 : Tacoma); Floats (Parades); Sons of Italy (Tacoma);

In March of 1934, (l to r) Frankie Cowan, Billye Fairchild, and Betty Brumbaugh wearing long Spring dresses and stylish hats posed in a field of bright yellow daffodils to help advertise the first ever Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival. Several days before the parade, Puyallup lawyer Herman Zander had still not selected a Festival Queen. Mrs. Elizabeth Lee Wooton of Puyallup was finally selected when he saw her stroll by his office window. Billye Fairchild was selected the Queen's attendant from Tacoma. In the early days of the Festival, pre-1950s, the Queen had to be from either Sumner or Puyallup. TPL-9812

Organizers of the first Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival in March of 1934 were not above using a little "cheesecake" to advertise their fledgling flower festival. Left to right, Frankie Cowan, Betty Brumbaugh and Billye Fairchild pose in thirties swimsuits in field of bright spring daffodils. The first festival was the brain child of Tacoman Lee Merrill and was loosely patterned on the Dutch flower festivals held around Easter. The 1934 event included the reign of the first Daffodil Queen, Elizabeth Lee Wooten, a parade (then called the "procession") and "Bulb Sunday," where visitors were invited to motor out to the fields and view the blossoms.

Three bathing beauties, left to right, Frankie Cowan, Betty Brumbaugh and Billye Fairchild, pose in the chilly spring air in their swimsuits and goosebumps amid the bright yellow daffodils. They are advertising the first annual Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival in March of 1934. The festivities, originated by Tacoman Lee Merrill, would include a Queen, a parade and a "Bulb Sunday." On Sunday, area residents were encouraged to motor out and view the daffodil fields. The first festival had a total budget of $600.

Frankie Cowan can hardly hold back a laugh. She is heartily enjoying posing in a field of bright Spring daffodils as a promotion for the first annual Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival in March of 1934. Miss Cowan is Frances Cowan, a saleswoman at the Peoples Store who resides at 621 So. Yakima Ave.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

1936 Daffodil Queen Helen Edgerton of Puyallup. In the early years, the queen alternated year to year between Puyallup and Sumner residents. The first queen from Tacoma was in 1956 and from Orting in 1962.

The Young Mens' Business Club entry in the 1936 Daffodil Parade was this flower covered replica of the bastions at the restored Fort Nisqually at Point Defiance. The restored Fort had opened in 1934. A sign on the float advertises the "Beaver Centennial" 1836-1936, a celebration to be held July 4, 1936.

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.

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.

1937 Daffodil Parade. Three patrolmen on motorcycles proceed a military unit, military band and flag bearers marching down Ninth Street to Pacific Avenue. (T. Times, 4/10/1937, p. 1)

Parades & processions--Tacoma--1930-1940; Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1937 : Tacoma); Festivals--Tacoma; Marching bands--Tacoma--1930-1940;

1937 Daffodil Parade. Close-up of Festival Queen Dorothy I (Lyons) and her attendants, Eugenia Spencer of Tacoma and Hazel Phillips of Puyallup, standing on the reviewing stand at Tenth Street and Pacific. (T. Times, 4/10/1937, p. 1)

Parades & processions--Tacoma--1930-1940; Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival (1937 : Tacoma); Festivals--Tacoma; Reviewing stands; Lyons, Dorothy; Spencer, Eugenia; Phillips, Hazel;