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Pride, Parades & Princesses 75 Y E A R S O F S P O K A N E L I L AC F E S T I VA L S

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10 | Festival Grows Despite War and Hard Times

C h a p t e r T w o | T h e 1 9 4 0 s

Festival Grows Despite War and Hard Times In the early 1940 s the Depression still burdened the nation which soon would be drawn into World War II. The economic resources of Spokane were no doubt stretched, but the Festival, thanks to its dedicated volunteers, continued until a three year hiatus was called in response to the war.

In 1940 Festival activities were expanding and moved to the Chamber of Commerce building where they remained until 1990. While at the Chamber, the Festival was able to draw on its resources and operational support.

The selection of the first Lilac royalty and queen in 1940 added another dimension to Festival events. Shannon (Mahoney) Mitchell was the first to claim the queen’s title. Selected from a field of four candidates, she was a senior at North Central High School, an “A” student and captain of the school’s golf team.

Other schools represented were Rogers and Lewis and Clark High Schools and Holy Names and Marycliff Academies. A high school faculty committee selected the queen based on grades, attractiveness and speaking ability.

At the coronation event held at the Davenport Hotel in May, Queen Shannon was crowned by Mayor Frank Sutherlin, her gown was white satin and she carried, of course, a huge bouquet of purple lilacs.

That year, the float conveying the royalty was an elegant flower bedecked carriage with a canopy of lilacs. Another new parade attraction was the stirring cadence and music of high school marching bands. The Spokane Lilac Festival could now proudly

claim an extravagant flower show, a parade with floats, royal court and marching bands.

The war years

The scope and popularity of the Lilac Festival was gaining momentum when the city of Spokane and the United States, barely recovering from the Great Depression, entered into World War II in 1942.

Young, able men and women were recruited and fighting overseas. West coast and inland cities like Spokane with Fairchild Air Force Base, which was built in 1942 as part of the nation’s defense strategy, prepared for possible attack. Spokane residents focused their energies on patriotic support, growing vegetable gardens, rationing and serving as “block wardens.” Lilac Festival activities were deemed inappropriate and were suspended from 1943 through 1945 during this time of fear, loss of loved ones in combat and conservation of resources.

The Associated Garden Club kept the lilac spirit alive, however, and held their annual flower show. Garden club members were at the Spokane railroad station delivering bouquets of lilacs to troops on military trains passing through.

A milestone festival year - 1946

World War II officially ended on September 2, l945 and in its wake there was cause for celebration, patriotism, and an appetite in cities like Spokane to get back to business with renewed

Opposite: T wo young ladies pose in a convertible for a 1948 Lilac Festival publicity shot. Courtesy The Spokesman-Review

Festival Grows Despite War and Hard Times | 11

energy behind economic and civic projects. Case in point was the Lilac Festival which, on the evening of June 20, 1946, held a meeting attended by 34 Lilac Festival enthusiasts to discuss an official Association; within a week the deed was done and the organization was formalized. Charter members were Mrs. J. Frank Clinton, Mrs. W. Trumbell, Mrs. William H. Cowles, Jr., Mrs. H.R. Newton, Mrs. Dalluge, Joel Ferris, Frank

Lavagetto, George Hacketter and Edward H. Hughes who was to serve as the first president for the next two years with Mrs. Clinton as vice president.

The charter Festival leaders fired up support from businesses and individuals to advance the Festival to the level of a huge event by the end of the decade. In 1947, the Festival was a week-long May event with the Associated Garden Club’s largest flower show to date,

Above: S hannon Mahoney Mitchell, the first Lilac Festival Queen poses with newspaper clippings from her first Lilac Parade in her Vancouver home on April 21, 2005. Courtesy The Spokesman-Review Right: S tagecoach days were never like this! The old stagecoach was put into service as the vehicle for the first Lilac Festival Queen and Royal Court in the 1940 parade. C ourtesy The Spokesman-Review 12 | Festival Grows Despite War and Hard Times

displaying 600 lilac blooms representing 50 different species in the Davenport’s Marie Antoinette Room.

The royalty program, however, was in the wings until 1949 when Donagene Heer was selected Queen.

A new theme, “Spokane, the Lilac City” was also launched replacing the original, “Spokane’s Best When Lilac Drest.”

In 1949, the Festival claimed a crowd of 75,000

lining the streets for the parade which moved through a downtown where storefronts and streets were decorated by the Retail Trade Bureau. The flower show moved from the Davenport to the Civic Building and the City and Lilac Festival brought in 115 new lilac bushes to be planted in Manito, Cannon Hill, High Drive, Franklin and Corbin Parks.

Honoring those who serve

In 1949 a national day of remembrance for all branches of military service, Armed Forces Day was set for the third Saturday in May, coincidentally, the same day as the Lilac Festival parade. The combination of events proved to be an attribute to Festival activities. In the ensuing years, recognition of servicemen and women has become a major part of Festival event planning.

In 1950 two parades were scheduled for Armed Forces Day, a community and Armed Forces Day parade. That year the 92nd Boom Wing of Geiger Field set the parade pace as its official color guard, and the tradition of having a military presentation of the colors has continued through the years. 6

Top: Q ueen Ann Hite Evers and the Lilac Court at the

Davenport Hotel in 1941. C ourtesy Spokane Lilac Festival Right: B obbee Judd, left, 1942 Lilac Festival Queen, receives Girl Reserves Lilac Breakfast tickets for the royalty from Lois Panelis, center and Harriet Johnson, right, of the Y.W.C.A. Girls Reserves Council. C ourtesy The Spokesman-Review Far right: I n 1940, one of the earliest commercial entries to

the Lilac Festival Parade was the Peters & Sons Flowers float featuring a swan and world globe. Courtesy Carol Peters Orlob Festival Grows Despite War and Hard Times | 13

Right: A 1945 photo of the Spokane Police Department Traffic Division assembling for the parade. This entry was to become a popular feature of subsequent Festival parades.

Courtesy The Spokesman-Review Bottom left: P eters & Sons float adorned with beautiful ladies and flowers during the 1949 Lilac Festival parade.

Courtesy The Spokesman-Review Bottom right: M iss Spokane County, Donagene Herr, rode

in regal style on the Allied Florist Spokane float in 1949.

C ourtesy The Spokesman-Review

14 | Festival Grows Despite War and Hard Times

Above: M ilitary band and troops march in the 1949 Lilac Festival parade, in recognition of the recent conclusion of World War II. C ourtesy The Spokesman-Review

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Right: T he U.S.S. Tacoma cruises through the Lilac Festival Parade in 1949. Courtesy The Spokesman-Review Bottom left: T he 1947 Blossom

Queen, Mrs. James Reems, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Olson, poses with the Grocers, Butchers & Wholesalers’ float; a pearl in an oyster shell represents the 30th Pearl Festival Anniversary.

C ourtesy The Spokesman-Review Bottom right: B ooks and lilacs

combine to create this 1949 float from Eastern Washington College of Education. C ourtesy The Spokesman-Review

16 | Festival Grows Despite War and Hard Times

Above left: E lks Colville Lodge No. 1753 float

during the Lilac Festival parade in 1949.

C ourtesy The Spokesman-Review

Above Right: A miniature garden created by the

Associated Garden Clubs of Spokane for the 1949 parade. C ourtesy The Spokesman-Review Left: I n 1949 Washington Water Power, now Avista, celebrated 60 years of service to the Spokane community with this float. Donna Paulin Hoover, who submitted the photo, rode the float with Redi-kilowatt.

WWP was later renamed Avista and the Montgomery Ward building, behind the float, later became City Hall. Courtesy The Spokesman-Review

Festival Grows Despite War and Hard Times | 17