Parade float with the theme Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs entitled "Reflecting on a Berry Happy Ending," May 7, 1999 Photo: Dieter C. Ullrich
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West Tennessee Strawberry Festival
In April 1934, the first West Tennessee
Strawberry Festival was held in Humbolt to promote the
region's high-quality strawberries. The first festival, which
was lightly attended, featured a parade, baseball games,
hot-air balloon rides, and contests held in the old Humbolt
High School gymnasium. A major event was the election of the
festival queen and her court.
The following year the festival was much larger, and
locals claimed it as the "Greatest Strawberry Show in the South."
The festival featured two parades, a horse show, a grand ball,
musical and vaudeville acts, industrial and commercial exhibits,
and multiple firework displays. In 1979, a Strawberry Festival
Historical Museum opened, which later moved into the restored 1912
city hall.
Each year the festival has presents spectacular
parades and activities. Among notable festival events have been a
Civil War re-enactment of Nathan Bedford Forest's 1864 raid through
the town, and the Budweiser Clydesdales in 1992. More than 100,000
visitors attended the 1999 festival, which included fireworks, a
picnic, a carnival, junior and grand parades, a pet parade, a
walking horse show, a car show, and a strawberry recipe
contest.
Documentation includes a 1999 souvenir program
booklet, magazine articles, and photographs.
Originally submitted by: John S. Tanner, Representative (8th District).
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