History at a Glance

The May 29, 1958, Journal was printed on green paper and featured enthusiastic reports on Forest Festival activities that had taken place the previous weekend. The first story, titled "Forest Festival Draws Huge Crowd from Pacific Northwest," claimed that 25,000 to 40,000 visitors had flocked to Shelton for the festivities. An official traffic count showed more than 55,000 vehicles coming into and leaving Shelton between Friday and Sunday evenings.

The Queen's Coronation and Pageant had been presented at Loop Field on Thursday and Friday nights. Following her official coronation, Queen Janet Hinton and her court took their seats in front of the stage backdrop to watch the enactment of The Good Potlatch, performed by about 100 Shelton Junior High School students accompanied by a large student band. The Journal commented that among the many people who praised the Pageant Committee and its presentation of The Good Potlatch, written by Bruce Schwarck (Shelton Junior High School principal), was James Stevens, honored citizen of that year's festival and author of all Shelton pageants from 1947 through 1957. "I want Bruce and his staff to know how much I enjoyed 'The Good Potlatch,' " Stevens told the Journal. "The presentation of the dances, the wonderful historical story of the Skokomish Indians, and the singing were a work of which Shelton can be justly proud. It was a great show."

The Kiddies Parade was a big hit - "Although it might not be equal to the style and polish of the main parade, the spirit was willing and the energy unlimited. One little fellow had to battle his goat every step of the way, but rode from start to finish. The efforts of the small fry to show their ideas and creations put everyone in a good mood for the main parade, which followed a few minutes later."

The 94 entries in the main parade "were well proportioned, with just about the right number of bands, horse units, drill teams, marching units and clowns. But overriding everything was the ingenuity and cleverness, the simplicity and the magnificence, of the rural school and community floats."

Eleven of these were spaced throughout the parade. The Grapeview float featured "a clever theme of a tree boxing with the fire demon in a roped arena, while Smokey Bear refereed." The Tahuya float had Smokey Bear peering out of a peeler log in front of a well with the slogan "Forest Fires Are Not Fairy Tales." The theme of the Middle Skokomish School float was "Peace Through World Trade" and featured six members of the sixth-grade class, each dressed in a costume representing one of the world's continents.

This float came to the attention of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote a letter to the school that read, "I am delighted to receive the photograph of your school float and would like to congratulate you on this wonderful idea. I am sure the children must have enjoyed their effort for Peace and I hope you will continue to develop their feelings of friendship for other peoples. With every good wish, Eleanor Roosevelt."

It was a sunny, hot day, but the Logging Show crowd and participants were not deterred. "Although the sun beat down unmercifully all through the day, the high climbers, log rollers, truck drivers and clowns went through their paces without interruption. The intrepid trio of Hap Johnson, Mal Harper, and Stan Lyon kept the hearts of the crowd in their mouths, racing up and down the 90-foot trees with reckless abandon. Swante Kyllonen, who had begun climbing in Northwest woods in 1912, gave the fans an exhibition of skill and daring with his old-fashioned springboard high climbing and topping. Even with the sun beating down like a flame thrower, Swante chopped away for almost an hour, standing on the springboard without any safety equipment as the huge crowd held its breath."

The Journal also had praise for community members who contributed to the festival's success. "One of the jobs so necessary to keeping happy the visitors who come here during festival days is providing food. Restaurants add people to their serving staffs, booths are set up by organizations, churches open their doors to hungry visitors, and the two special events of the festival - the Queen's Banquet and the Honored Guests luncheon - are handled by the Amaranth and the Eastern Star. All of these gestures of hospitality to our guests call for volunteer work - lots of time and effort - but they are part of the good name Shelton has earned as a community where people are made to feel at home.

"And while perhaps many Forest Festival participants were resting from their labors on Sunday morning, Roy Kimbel and the members of his Forest Festival logging show committee were out on Loop Field removing the chips and splinters of Saturday's big show. They took down temporary fences, removed spar poles, filled holes, and restored Loop Field to a condition suitable for baseball."

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."