| Show PLAIN FESTIVAL denver oct ath 1897 denver the city between mountain and plain has been for the past three days afire with the glint of silver and gold 16 to 1 and the principal streets of the city have been aglow with uncountable myriads of varicolored vari colored in candescent can descant lights the multitudinous strings of chinese lanterns strung from every available fastening fasten ng place cross and streets and lawns made a spectacular ensemble that was indeed gratifying to behold the streets have been congested with thousands moving here and there like a mutable sea listening to the blare of the trumpets the music of inspiring bands the huzzahs of immeasurable in easu rable voices the cat calls of boys and girls with innumerable devices for making noise all mingled with the laughter glee and merriment of the thousands in the throng who were present to celebrate the festival of mountain and plain and the slaves of the silver serpent it is said that at no time in the history of colorado in general or of denver in particular has there ever been such an of the natural and spontaneous vehement asseveration of joy as there was during this years celebration the queen of the festival miss lillian hurd of denver was selected selected by the womans comans club and the maids of honor 48 in all were selected by ballot on tuesday and wednesday n mornings the visiting bands numbering thirty two contested for prizes at the grand stand after each days contest the bands assembled in one unit ad band of nearly TOO musician and marshed nun shed down sixteenth daxl agibe idt xay 7 ing anig bouws el capit capetan sn march tl ho harmony was perfect and was without a doubt the greatest feature of the whole program fifty thousand people fell in line and followed the bands down the street and the scene bre presented was awe full fuir awe tun fuir la Is the only word in the english I 1 language augu age that describes the sublimity of the th music the pr prize I 1 ze of boo for t the h e best beat band was won by telluride the features of the first day opened up with a pageant of progress first a float of the cliff dwellers then tha tl indians representing the first arst settlers of the plains then the pioneers of colorado who crossed the plains in the late and early the detail was wa carried out with much precision IB many the original prairie schooners ners and harnesses were used then came floats descriptive of the early estates lish ment of the city of denver depicting the scenes and incidents of its early settlement these floats and thia portion of the parade were entirely to jP charge of the pioneers association the society being made up of men and wb women who came to colorado prior to 1859 there are about members still living following this di division came the decorated carriages one af 6 the most beautiful features of the en tire prade it made a string of about three quarters of a mile long then came the allegorical floats representative of the growth of the country cornu y at large and of colorado in particular all AH of them were of the highest possible elegance in papier mache said and were the creation of an englishman named george E robinson who built the recent floats at los angeles in april last laoj and at new orleans tor for the bardl gras the floats furnished by the various counties in some instances cost coat thousands of dollars in every case they told a story of the counties wealth and products showing the value of the various minerals produced in the mountains and the fruits olt of gated plains following this division came the floats of the business and manufacturing establishments of colorado last but not least was the display of the denver chinese every chinaman employed in denver practically went on strike ten days before the fe stival festival began and spent the time in arranging the various and wonderful displays at a cost of nearly they brought from the orient bands banners implements of war and regalia which the priests of their country wear when worshipping wor shipping their innumerable gods in a float one ot of the most beautiful in the parade rofle rode five of their favorite gods and two goddesses flanked on elther either vf by soldiers of the army of following the gods came t the h e bands making the most weird and bore ble music imaginable and with thrift came carrying box after ba box X of firecrackers which they shot oft off all H along the route of march the end ena of this division and of the parade varsie wae the wonderful chinese dragon two hundred feet in length which crawled along the streets to the horror of children and horses the head of the dragon was made of green with glaring eyes that shot out six feet and a large mouth out of which plot phot a tongue of tire fire the animal was beautifully grotesque with sparkling spanning scales of silver and gold after the parade the fire department gave axt an of lifesaving life saving etc at the ave flye story building erected for that pu purpose roose at the grand stand corner colfax ana broadway Broadw av the days program Tain con co eluded with an illuminated Tta cycle p parade at 7 on the down town streets and indian games and fireworks at the city park the second secona day was given wet over to 0 frivolity the lord wt of mirth auld the city from noon till midnight the great masked parade moved at I 1 and was a most unique and startlingly original procession first came the lord of mirth accompanied by his court and retainers who were followed by beautiful floats which found a parody on the allegorical display of the day previous the denver athletic club a prominent social organization of denver had an amateur circus parade called bungling bros circus then came the denver wheel club members each appeared as tigers riding bicycles following came the arapahoe wheel club dressed as indians Ind fans to represent the tribe from which they took their name after this organization marched the Y M C A wheel club who enacted a parody on the chinese display of the day prior they carried out the scheme to the letter even the dragon whose head was as an exact counterpart of the chinese but whose body and tail was made up of hose pipe ranging fro from m the largest size down to the smallest a pipe no larger than a lead pencil and which stretched feet behind the head of the monster the denver rio grande railway was represented by a float showing hades in all its fury at the mouth of the float stood satan who hurled the condemned into the fi fiery furnace here came upwards of men women and children masked and dressed in grotesque and handsome 60 costumes after the parade the streets were giver up to the promiscuous maskers who revelled bevelled revel led in fun until sundown tue festivities concluded with a grand bal Cham petra which occurred immediately in front of the grand stand and lasted until midnight the third and last day opened up with a grand military and civic pageant and closed in a night of glory with the silver serpent parade and a grand ball at the broadway theater A striking facture of the military parade was the appearance of the denver fire department they were preceded by the volunteer firemen of years ago the showing made by the department was indeed a creditable one the parade of the slaves of the silver serpent all masked embraced floats of immense beauty and richness and was viewed by fully people A number of salt lake people were in attendance among whom were the following H S ensign carl A badger Z L coltrin J H grant jr charles R jones W C clive L H oviatt wm 0 robinson fred graham hyrum S hyde judge colburn E G rognon and wife C J pence F A wadleigh elgh gus hulmes H W B cantner T D cain W H evans H A fyler E L sheets P W mccaffrey and T F thomas jr the president of the utah press association and a number of members were also in attendance the celebration was inmost in most respects a great one but all in all it was easily eclipsed by bv the jubilee festivities of this thin city JAY |
