Spring Blossom Parade
~ by Jeff Tryon
When our pioneer forefathers founded the tradition of a Spring Blossom parade, to be held each year in Nashville in 1929, they tapped one of the best known and admired women in the county to be the Parade Queen— Mary“ Grandma” Barnes.
Well known for her fabulous flower gardens and strong opinions, Barnes was a favorite of the painters, was photographed and quoted by pioneering photographer and columnist Frank Hohenberger, and still has a namesake county road up near Bean Blossom.
A 1929 Hohenberger photograph depicts Grandma Barnes decked out as the“ Spring Blossom Queen”, the first of that designation. In 1930, she crowned the next year’ s queen, Mary Cloud, daughter of artist C. Carey Cloud.
The Grand Marshall of this year’ s Spring Blossom Parade is another well-known local woman of strong opinions, Brown County Circuit Court Judge Judy Stewart, who will be retiring later this year after decades of service.
Today’ s Spring Blossom Parade, known back in the 1950s and 60s as the“ Redbud Dogwood Parade,” has its roots in a different type of bloom— those of apple and peach trees in orchards along many Brown County ridges and hilltops.
The 55 th annual Spring Blossom Parade is set to go off about 11 a. m. on May 5 as part of a weekend of activities that will include children’ s games on the Village Green, special movie screenings, and the traditional parade down Van Buren Street.
This year’ s Spring Blossom Festival theme will be“ Cinque De Mayo” and the theme of the parade will be“ Unity in Diversity.”
Spring Blossom Parade 2003, courtesy Mary Jane Richards.
Grandma Barnes. Frank M. Hohenberger, 1929. courtesy The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
The Saturday morning parade, open to all, will feature the usual compliment of firetrucks, floats, marching bands, and riders on horseback.
Larry Hanson, a member of the organizing committee, said the Brown County Playhouse will show the movie“ Three Amigos” on Friday night.
The Boy Scouts will sponsor a sale on the Village Green and the Rotary Club will present games for children, but it is unlikely that they will feature such oldtime pursuits as a chicken catching contest( winners got to keep the chicken), or climbing a greased pole with a five dollar bill on top, as at the 1929 event.
In 1929, Dale Bessire, one of the pioneer Brown County artists and an apple grower himself, organized the first blossom parade, which touted apple and peach blossoms and was meant to promote the burgeoning tourist industry in the county.
The 1929 event lasted a week and was advertised on radio stations as far away as Chicago.
Brown County has a long history of apple orchards. From the late 1870s, orchards were abundant here as the hilly terrain offered protection against spring frosts and the climate made for a colorful, richly flavored apple.
“ Fruit raising is perhaps the most widespread industry in the county,” explained a program oriented for the 1929 festival,“ The soil and location of Brown County seem just right to raise apples of exceptional quality and color.”
“ Peaches of excellent flavor and many small fruits are raised commercially, but not so extensively as apples.”
“ It is said that its situation on the border line between the extremes of heat and cold and its elevation, with
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44 Our Brown County • March / April 2018