The Daffodil Festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Daffodil Festival | |
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| The Daffodil Festival's 75th Anniversary Logo | |
| Location(s) | Pierce County, Washington |
| Years active | 82 |
| Date(s) | 1926-present |
| Genre | Floral |
| Website | www.daffodilfestival.net |
The Daffodil Festival is a regional festival and parade held in Pierce County, Washington every April. It is comprised of a parade and a year-long pageant to select a festival queen from one of the area high schools.
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[edit] History
The Puyallup River valley, in which part of Tacoma,and all Puyallup, Sumner and Orting lie, has rich glacial soil. In 1925 the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommended bulb growing to replace the decaying hops industry.
Soon, the trademark bulb fields sprung up, most notably Van Lierop's bulb farm in Puyallup, along Shaw Road. Daffodils and tulips became the best crops.
The Daffodil Festival was established in 1926 as an annual, formal garden party of Mr. And Mrs. Charles W. Orton in Orting. In 1934 the parade section of the festival was established, as a procession of automobiles decorated with daffodils.
[edit] Parade
The parade is a four part sequence, traveling through Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner and Orting. The parade is held every year in April.
[edit] Participating high schools
As of 2007, the participating high schools are:
- Bethel High School (Spanaway)
- Bonney Lake High School (Bonney Lake)
- Chief Leschi High School (Puyallup)
- Clover Park High School (Lakewood)
- Curtis Senior High School (University Place)
- Eatonville High School (Eatonville)
- Emerald Ridge High School (Puyallup)
- Fife High School (Fife)
- Franklin Pierce High School (Parkland)
- Graham-Kapowsin High School (Graham)
- Henry Foss High School (Tacoma)
- Lakes High School (Lakewood)
- Lincoln High School (Tacoma)
- Mt. Tahoma High School (Tacoma)
- Orting High School (Orting)
- Puyallup High School (Puyallup)
- Rogers High School (Puyallup)
- Spanaway Lake High School (Spanaway)
- Stadium High School (Tacoma)
- Sumner High School (Sumner)
- Washington High School (Tacoma)
- Woodrow Wilson High School (Tacoma)
[edit] External links
- Daffodil Festival Website
- Collection of photos from the (Tacoma) News Tribune
- Pierce County resolution R2006-37 recognizing and honoring the festival and its royal court
