COVER STORY
10
CELEBRATING 60 YEARS
And Bush is still helping out. Her assignment for the
festival’s 60th anniversary was to find and bring together
all theme girls from 1957 through 1977. And she discovered
the theme girl for the 2017 festival — a talented high school
senior, Blair Arnold, niece of 1972 theme girl Jan Arnold.
Themes, usually submitted to a naming contest by community
members, included ideas like Oceans of Gold to commemorate
the finding of the 1715 gold-carrying Spanish fleet
that wrecked during a hurricane off the shores of Fort Pierce,
or Yesterday and Tomorrow to celebrate the past while looking
toward the future.
REAL FLORIDA FEATURED
The first festival was predated by a one-day event in 1956
put on by the cattlemen. They hosted a parade with about 400
horsemen and a tour of the huge Adams Ranch. It was a tremendous
success. In a Jan. 19, 1973, article in the Florida Today
newspaper, event co-chairman W.G. Padrick Jr. recalled that
an unexpected 1,000 people showed up and that he’d never
seen so much traffic.
That success was enough to prompt the Chamber of Commerce
to consider creation of a weeklong festival that would
not only be fun for residents, but also show out-of-state
visitors parts of Florida life and activities that “they rarely, if
ever, see,” according to a Feb. 17, 1957, article in The New York
Times.
A festival committee was formed in 1956 and planning
commenced, resulting in a six-day festival in February
1957. That year, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, Elvis
shocked censors on the Ed Sullivan Show, and The Bridge on the
River Kwai was playing at the movies.
The Sandy Shoes Festival was named by 17-year-old Gail
McManus who said the oft-quoted statement that “once you
get Florida sand in your shoes you’ll surely return” inspired
her to propose Sandy Shoes. She was also the first theme girl.
The committee packed the festival schedule with a cattlemen’s
parade, trips to cattle ranches, rodeos, a golf tournament,
an art exhibit, boat races, water-skiing, a tomato
auction, barbecue, historical pageant, boat trips on the St.
Lucie and Indian rivers, sightseeing in the groves and citrus
packing houses and midget car races with cars a quarter of
the size of a normal car.
The behind-the-scenes peek at the “real Florida” brought
people in from all around the country who wanted to see
where their oranges came from and what a real working
ranch looked like while enjoying the food, the competitions,
the ocean and rivers.
FESTIVAL DATES VARIED
After that first thrilling success, there was some discussion
about the most advantageous time to hold the festival.
Should it be held during prime tourist season or when many
tourists had gone home and the locals could relish their competitions
and food without so many snowbirds on hand. The
festival dates frequently moved and its length often changed
during its first 20 years.
In 1958, the six-day festival shrank to five days. The historical
drama Along These Waters was one of seven outdoor
dramas produced and directed by Ada Coats Williams and
water-sports competitions were added to the schedule. The
popular play would continue to be performed for years.
The following year the festival, saw more than 100 people >>
Motorcycle races were a
popular event during the
early days of the festival.
PHOTO PROVIDED