On September 21, 1911, Kennewick’s first annual Grape Carnival opens at the tabernacle, ushering in two days of lectures and presentations, exhibits and displays, band concerts and parades, and the crowning of a carnival queen. It is sponsored by the Kennewick Commercial Club, whose members raised $1,500 to stage the event. At least $400 in prize money and merchandise was secured and awarded to farmers competing in categories that included best grape display, best basket display, and largest bunch of grapes. Prizes were also given for other crops, such as best potatoes and largest watermelon. Twenty-two young women vied to become Queen Tokay I, and the pomp surrounding the coronation was worthy of any regal court. Attendees rated the two-day event a huge success and within a month were calling for it to become a regular part of Kennewick’s fall calendar.
Grape Carnival Kicks Off
Kennewick’s grape industry began in 1906 when Merlyn Church (1857-1929) left his home in Wisconsin and moved to southeastern Washington to start an ice and cold-storage business. Intrigued by the abundant Concord grapes grown nearby, Church started blending juices from Concord and Worden grapes and "discovered that he had a product of unusual quality which did not require the addition of sugar to give it a delightful flavor" ("Grape Farming in Washington"). He planted 25 acres and encouraged other farmers to do the same. Many followed his lead.
With such a dry climate, the farmers in Kennewick relied heavily on irrigation for their crops. Canals were built in the 1890s and "the Northern Pacific Irrigation Company installed pumps and ditches to irrigate the Kennewick Highlands, to provide water for orchards, in the 1900s" ("Benton County – Thumbnail History").
Once a regular water supply was secured, Kennewick began to grow. Citizens voted for incorporation in 1904, and by 1910 the town boasted more than 1,200 residents. The following year, members of the Kennewick Commercial Club came up with the idea of a two-day Grape Carnival to promote the town’s agricultural products. Scheduled for September 21 and 22, 1911, the event budget was set at $1,500, and committees were formed to oversee various festival elements, such as prizes, building and booth arrangements, amusements, concessions, and publicity.
The Commercial Club set three goals for the event: ensure that demonstrations and lectures offered significant educational value; identify the area’s best fruit display and enter it in competitions in Yakima and Spokane; and engage young people. "The evenings during the carnival will be turned over to the young folks for a general jollification. Besides the crowning of the Vineyard Queen, which will take place Thursday evening, there will be all sorts of fun-making sideshows rigged up by local talent. The amusement committee is already busy on the job and there is no doubt that they will pull off some breath-taking stunts" ("Kennewick’s Grape Carnival").
The tabernacle, a barnlike structure at Fourth and Washington streets, was converted into an exhibit hall where Kennewick growers as well as farmers from White Bluffs, Hanford, Attalia, and Richland sponsored booths and competed for prize money. On both afternoons, there were presentations and demonstrations on such topics as caring for vineyards and how to pack grapes for market. Carnival organizers went all-out to encourage growers to attend, even promising no admission charge for the educational programs.
Judging Begins
On opening day, growers and their artful fruit displays took over the tabernacle. Some grapes were arranged in crates, others in baskets. Some exhibits featured American grape varieties (Concord and Niagara); others showcased grapes with European roots: Tokay, Muscat, Malaga, and Black Hamburg. One of the growers, D. J. Beinhart, arranged his booth with a display of red, white, and blue grapes, and J. F. Bonn, a grower from White Bluffs, brought "40 boxes of grapes, commercial pack, two crates of fine second crop strawberries and a display of vegetables" ("Grape Carnival in Full Swing").
Prize money ranged from 50 cents to $25; others were awarded merchandise such as a hat or stationery. But it wasn’t just about the grapes; there were also displays of peaches, apples, pears, melons, potatoes, onions, alfalfa, grape jelly, and grape juice. J. S. Pearson of Hanford won a $3.50 pair of shoes for growing the largest watermelon, weighing in at 60 pounds, 15 ounces. The winner of the Best Display was Kennewick Orchard Co., whose 16 varieties of European table grapes covered nearly one end of the exhibit hall. Judges gave the grower an almost-perfect score. "For flavor, coloring, size and shape the grapes were scored perfect. It was scored one point under perfect on attractiveness, and 18 out of 20 points on number of varieties. It was perhaps the finest collection of grapes ever exhibited from any one vineyard in the Northwest" ("Prize Winners at Kennewick’s First Annual Grape Carnival").
The Crowning of Queen Tokay
To add to the festivities, the Grape Carnival included band concerts, parades, and the crowning of the festival queen with 22 young women vying for the honor – 17 from Kennewick, two from Richland, and one each from Attalia, Hover, and Finley. All entrants were deemed to be "perfectly charming and popular young ladies, any one of which will make the queeniest kind of queen" ("Twenty-Two Nominees for Queen of the Grape Carnival").
Event tickets, at a cost of 10 cents each, allowed the bearer to cast 10 votes for queen and also provided entry into the carnival pavilion and amusement booth. After the votes were tabulated, Miss Nima Hoadley of Kennewick was named Queen Tokay I and awarded a dozen professional studio photographs.
According to The Kennewick Courier-Herald, the impressive coronation ceremony went off without a hitch. "Promptly at 7:30 the coronation parade formed at the Kennewick Hotel and proceeded to the tabernacle. In the lead was the band, lighted by torch-bearers, and followed by an automobile carrying Arch-Bishop Gardner and Prime Minister Sly. Then came the royal float, guarded by a dozen armed knights in full regalia. The Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, riding in carriages and autos, brought up the rear of the procession ... They couldn’t have done better even in dear old London" ("Grape Carnival in Full Swing").
Sour Grapes in Spokane
On October 2, 1911, Pasco Mayor W. P. Gray called for the Grape Carnival to become a permanent addition to the regional calendar. "The Kennewick 'Grape Carnival' was a wonderful success and a surprise to the most sanguine. It established the fact that our Columbia river valley is the Rhine of America and the natural home of the grape. The organization of the Columbia Valley Grape Carnival should be perpetual, with permanent headquarters in Kennewick ... When we realize that we have 130 miles of land on each side of the Columbia river that even now is not surpassed in the production of grapes, cantaloupes, melons, and other delicate fruits and vegetables, we will realize that our grape carnival will soon rival the apple show of Spokane" ("The Grape Carnival Should be Permanent").
Flushed with pride, the Kennewick Commercial Club brought the winning display to Spokane’s Interstate Fair in October 1911 where it took second place, losing to North Yakima. Immediately, "widespread indignation and protests [poured] in, not only from the parties concerned in the injustice of it but from hundreds of others who are disinterested persons but who appreciate the fine points of grapes and are capable of making a just comparison of displays, qualities and varieties" ("Kennewick Grapes Take Second at Spokane Fair"). Kennewick supporters were outraged that the judge was a noted apple expert, not a grape expert, and considered refusing the second-place prize.
Despite the disappointment, the Kennewick community remained thrilled with the Grape Carnival’s success and made plans to repeat it the following year, albeit with a few changes: The time frame was extended to three days (September 19-21, 1912) and the top prize money was doubled. Local boosters were sure the event would put Kennewick on the map. "The Grape Carnival is the one occasion that Kennewick has that is distinctive of this place. Let’s make it an occasion that will rival Seattle’s Potlatch, Portland’s Rose Festival, or Spokane’s Apple Show" ("Now for the Carnival"). The Grape Carnival continued to be held through the mid-1940s. In 1948, the event was reintroduced as the Benton Franklin Fair.
