By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
When Tay Fowle Carter steps out on the Turnage Theater stage Saturday afternoon, it’s sure to bring back memories of her youth when she was Washington Tulip Festival royalty.
Carter is among the local models taking part in this weekend’s Dress Rehearsal fashion show benefiting the Turnage. She’ll be adorned in diamonds and pearls from Stewart’s Jewelry Store.
The theme of the second-annual fashion fundraiser pays homage to the former Tulip Festival tradition celebrated in Beaufort County. The festival was first held in the 1930s, suspended during World War II and later revived for a short time during the late 1980s.
In 1938, the second year of the event, Carter was “tulip royalty,” chosen by her classmates at Washington High School to be the city’s queen and hostess of the festival. Sharing the honor was king and host William Little, a fellow WHS senior.
“Oh, it was a big event. Gov. (Clyde R.) Hoey came for the festival,” Carter said. “There were girls from all over the county in the pageant.”
According to a news clipping, vying for the title of Tulip Festival Queen were Hilda Harris, Miss Pantego; Catherine Morris, Miss Belhaven; Irma Toler, Miss Chocowinity; Fay Marsh, Miss Bath; Gladys Hodges, Miss Old Ford; and Dorothy Williams, Miss Aurora.
Organizers decided that, as Miss Washington, Carter would not compete for the overall festival queen title. Instead, that honor would go to one of the visiting queens.
Again, news clippings of the time describe the pageantry in colorful terms. “The curtain rose on the coronation scene with Mayor Ralph H. Hodges in Dutch attire seated upon the throne,” one account reads. “(The festival) queens entered and took their places beside the throne. In all her regal blond beauty, the Queen, Miss Dorothy Williams of Aurora, entered, winning all present with her gracious charm.”
A scrapbook Carter kept of that time provides details of the celebration. An estimated 4,000 spectators attended the first day’s events, reportedly making Washington’s Tulip Festival even bigger than that year’s Azalea Festival in Wilmington.
A parade, a street dance and the chance to sample some authentic Dutch dishes prepared by residents of the Terra Ceia community were highlights of the festival.
As a footnote, the festivities of the Tulip Festival took a downward turn for Carter shortly after the event. A week later, she was critically injured in an accident.
A clipping tells the tale.
Carter was riding on the running board of a car driven by classmate Tad Larkin when she fell to the pavement on West Main Street. She was knocked unconscious and was taken to Tayloe Hospital, where it was discovered she had a fractured skull. She remained hospitalized for more than a week.
To her embarrassment, the accident was reported in newspapers across the state.
“It made all the newspapers about the Washington tulip queen,” Carter said with a laugh.
During Saturday’s Turnage show, which features the latest in spring fashions from downtown merchants, Carter will be joined by other Stewart’s models, all of whom have ties to the Tulip Festival tradition, according to Betty Stewart.
They include Vail Stewart Rumley, great-granddaughter of original committee member Olive Rumley; Janet Suerro Rodman, daughter-in-law of former queen Helen “Droop” Mishoe Rodman; former Tulip Queen Mary Kathryn Johnston Sheppard and her 5-year-old daughter, Mary Scott Sheppard; and Mary Elizabeth Robertson, Stewart’s daughter and a contestant in the 1989 Little Miss Tulip Princess pageant.
There’s also another special treat waiting for those who attend the fashion show. Stewart has a tape of the 1937 Washington Tulip Festival that will be screened during Saturday’s event. To purchase tickets, call the Turnage Theater box office at 252-975-1191 or visit turnagetheater.com.
There’s much more to the rich history of the Washington Tulip Festival, which some folks hope to revive. See future editions of the Daily News for additional information.