I remember the first Rhododendron Festival in 1936. I was 7 years old and we lived in an old house at Tremont & San Juan Ave., long since gone, that had an outdoor toilet and no telephone. A couple of years had gone by since such adventures as the Hurricane of 1934 and my visit aboard the USS Constitution in Port Townsend Bay (from which I still have a souvenir). I was just finishing first grade, and my teacher Annie Jarvis at Lincoln School had taught me to read. There was no pre-school or kindergarten in those days, and I was not allowed to start first grade in the fall of ’34 because my 6th birthday did not occur before Christmas.

My parents took me to town, my father driving the old car that could be started with a crank stuck into the front end. Activities centered on what is now Memorial Field. I remember only the footrace for little guys they entered me in. I finished second to Billy Cooper and won a 50-cent piece (he got a silver dollar).  That four bits was more money than I’d ever seen. I was so euphoric that when we got back home I dug out the quarter I’d been hoarding and gave it to my younger brother Dick, who’d had nothing.

I never did get a chance for a re-match against Billy Cooper, who was in my class at school. His family moved to Wapato when he was still fairly young. If he’s still alive I wonder if I could finally out-run him almost 80 years later.

I have a ton of memories from later years, including such things as trying to get girls to accompany me on the wild rides at the carnival about the time of my freshman year in high school. I had money to burn from my job as a Seattle Times carrier boy.

My coverage of the various parades and other events for the Leader began in 1955 and first involved photographing the grand parade with a heavy old Speed Graphic from out on the awning of Baker Drug at the northwest corner of Water & Adams St. My coverage eventually continued on into the 1980s. By some time around the early 1970s I had progressed into single-handedly producing an entire photo tabloid of the festival for the Leader.

That included shooting the pet parade on Thursday, developing the film (by this time on a 120mm camera) late in the day, beginning photo prints in the evening and following morning, similar procedure for the Friday kiddie parade . . . then the Saturday grand parade. With other events captured as they occurred. I walked the entire grand parade route with camera, stopped at an aunt’s house at Lawrence and Monroe for a beer with family members—then sometimes perched my tired legs onto a passing float and rode the final leg of the parade down Monroe Street.  All day Sunday was spent developing film, making prints, writing captions and pasting up pages on light tables. There was no real support staff back in those days—especially nights and weekends. By mid-day Monday this section was finished and ready for an early trip to the out-of-town printer for inclusion with our post-festival issue.

When I joined the Leader as a part-time printer in 1944, the entire editorial staff was publisher Dick McCurdy and most photography was by Redding’s Studio. Following some college time, I returned to work as a full–time printer until drafted into the army early in the Korean War. After finishing college late in 1954, I was hired as McCurdy’s right-hand man—reporting, doing all the photography, doubling as the display advertising department and press-day printer. So I never really adjusted to the specialization of an ever-enlarging staff as later years rolled by. Times certainly have changed—digital cameras, computers, etc.  I only got into that sort of technology long after my working years—for several of my latest books. 

But back to the parades. For years the mainstays were local floats, including those representing the local Elks Lodge, the paper mill and others. On the comical side was the traditional DeLeo Brothers (Micky, Bonzo and Carl) “Sqaut Car,” (sic) a lopsided, contortionistic vehicle roughly based on an old police paddy wagon.

Probably my favorite festival photo experience back in early years, was about the early ‘60s, when I jumped on stage at the high school with my bulky old press camera to capture UW football coach Jim Owens crowning our festival queen. I got the crown beginning to fall off with the first shot and then (slide replaced in 4- x 5-inch film holder, holder extracted and turned over, slide removed, flash bulb replaced) got the follow-up of Owens sheepishly adjusting the crown with my second shot. I couldn’t have done better several decades later with a digital camera.

The parades, etc. aren’t really much fun anymore. In the early days I knew about everyone in town, and it was them, their children and grandchildren I was photographing most of the time. Everyone’s a total stranger now.  Same goes for the high school athletes whose games I also reported and photographed over some 30 years (along with Little Leaguers). Some of my favorite athletes of yesteryear are well into their 70s now.

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