The Santa Fe Fiesta of 1947. People remember it now for the crowds. The tourists and visitors came early and came by the thousands. Every hotel and tourist court in Santa Fe was full. The Chamber of Commerce pitched in to find rooms for 32 people in private homes. They came to experience the gaudy, glorious event and the Fiesta of 1947 did not disappoint. Let's take it day by day.
FRIDAY
Zozobra went down in spectacular flaming death right on schedule in a program directed by Big Z's creator, Will Shuster. The paper reported that Old Man Gloom moaned and groaned, waving his arms and hands wildly, as the flames licked higher and higher. All witnessed by an estimated 10,000 people. Then the crowd surged back into town to observe the coronation of the Fiesta Queen by the Archbishop on the terrace of St. Francis cathedral.
The Fiesta Queen was Pauline Padilla, a 1941 graduate of Santa Fe High School, nominated by the Sociedad Folklorica, and the daughter of the late Reyes Padilla and Mrs. Clara Padilla. She was attended by princesses Elvira Trujillo, Adelina Ortiz and Grace Montoya. Queen Pauline's gown was fashioned of imported French white lace, embroidered with silver flowers of eggshell satin. Oh, and the princesses were given crowns to wear for some occasions, made of tin with semi-precious stones.
After the coronation the music and the dancing on the Plaza started and would continue for three more days. The music from the Plaza bandstand included, Los Charros de Nuevo Mexico, Pedro Rodriguez, Villeros Allegres with dancers Lupe and Lily Baca; the Montezuma Seminary Choir, Johnny Valdez with the La Fonda Orchestra, Jenny Wells, folksinger, the Kellogg Marimba Orchestra, and Michnovich trio of Los Alamos, one played string bass, one played accordion and one played the clarinet and saxophone. They played folk songs, cowboy songs and Spanish melodies.
SATURDAY MORNING
The Pet Parade returned in 1947. A water famine at Fiesta time in 1946, shortened Fiesta to two days and the Pet Parade had been canceled that year. So there a great many entries in the 1947 parade. Grand prize went to Donna Margaret Clauser for the girls and Jim Calvin for the boys. Donna rode in a carreta drawn by a big white dog, Jim in an old fashioned carriage drawn by a burro. Interestingly, Donna's brother Donald won a blue ribbon and so did Jim Calvin's sister, Jane. The Parade judges handed out dozens of blue, red and white ribbons.
SATURDAY
A Parade, called the Entrada in 1947, wound its way to the Plaza on Saturday afternoon, led by the Kansas City Saddle and Sirloin club. Representing a caravan of Santa Fe Traders, more than 100 Kansas City clubmen rode palomino parade horses and drove stagecoaches and Conestoga wagons. The club was followed by the Santa Fe Sheriff's posse and the Mounted Patrol and pretty much anyone in Santa Fe who had a horse.
Dancers, both Jacques Cartier's dance students and pueblo ceremonial dancers, performed in the afternoon on the band stand and in the Palace courtyard.
At the armory, site of the Gran Baile de los Conquistadores, 12 artificial palm trees, each 14 feet high, were placed around the walls of the armory to make it appear more tropical. For some reason, the Conquistadores Ball had a Cuban theme. The ball, as always, was in honor of the Queen so there was a large platform for her, decorated in New Mexico red and yellow colors, and a bandstand for the Bob Summers Orchestra.
Over 4000 feet of crepe paper, both for the Armory and for the Palomino Club, where the Baile de la Gente was also held that same night. The gente had the Freddie Valdez Orchestra playing Spanish music.
The Women's Club & Library Association held a chuck wagon dinner behind the library, an event chaired by Mrs. W. M. Maraman. Edith Moya sang to the booklovers, along with a barbershop quartet which included Dr. Reginald Fisher, head of the New Mexico Museum at the time.
SUNDAY
Sundays were always the quietest of the Fiesta days. It began with a pontifical procession, led by the Archbishop. Anybody could join in. The procession led back to the Cathedral for the High Mass.
Don Diego De Vargas for 1957 was Juan Alderete. On Sunday afternoon, he led his lieutenants Jim Gabaldon, Carl Thomson, Ignacio Moya and Pete Olivas, cavalry and infantrymen to the exact spot before the Old Palace where DeVargas reclaimed Santa Fe for Spain in 1692. Most of the men are members of the Guadalupe post of the Catholic War Veterans, by the way.
One Sunday Fiesta event is so often overlooked. It's called the Merienda, for the ladies, presented by the Sociedad Folklorica. In 1947, it was held on the patio of Sena Plaza and there the ladies gathered to enjoy chocolate and biscochitos while admiring the fashions of an earlier time. Models included Senora Cleofas Jaramillo, a founder of the Sociedad Folklorica, wearing her wedding dress (which, with some alteration, she wore to President McKinley's second inauguration).
Other Santa Fe royalty participated, like Conchita Ortiz y Pino, Beulah Baca Read, Anita Thomas, Amelia Romero and Reynalda Dinkel who modeled antique shawls, rebosos, mantillas and dresses.
Sunday night, Archbishop Byrne led the solemn candlelight procession through the Plaza and up to the Cross of the Martyrs where he spoke, calling for national unity and a return to religion as antidotes to atheistic communism.
MONDAY
The Hysterical Parade featured floats and stunts with caricatures of prominent individuals and pertinent economic and political issues, paraphrasing Henry Drypolcher of the Santa Fe Junior Chamber of Commerce (the Jaycees) who promised over 50 entries of lampooning and poking fun.
My favorite was the Arroyo Hondo Hamburger and Hackamore Club, tweaking the nose of the city's honored guests from Kansas City. The winner was the Public Service Company lampooning the scarcity of housing for veterans, displaying a dilapidated privy wired for electricity and selling for an outrageous $19,000. The Second place float depicted Los Alamos “mad scientists' scrambling around a laboratory wielding geiger counters. Third place went to a two-float combo both aimed at “straw man” Governor Mabry and the man who really ran state government in 1947, State Revenue Commissioner Victor Salazar.
When last act left the bandstand, around 5 pm, the booths and rides were dismantled and the garbage trucks appeared to carry away the litter and the trash Fiesta always leaves behind.
Fiesta Council President Ben Martinez said, “ Our 235th Fiesta observance should be the greatest Santa Fe has ever seen. Every effort has been made to arrange a program to please everyone and yet include all the pageant and lore for which the festival is so well known.”
The Council President didn't mention the crimes. Yes, city police reported one burglary at the Koffee Kup Kafe, one attempted burglary at Franklin's on the Plaza, the looting of two cars over Fiesta weekend and two thefts, one a ring on display under the Portal. One Albuquerque crime victim recovered a jacket stolen from his car. He came across a boy wearing it while strolling round the Plaza and took it back.
Que Viva La Fiesta 1947.
