Remembering When
by
Jerry Person
Huntington Beach City Historian
Dedicated to the people of Huntington Beach
The Huntington Beach Flower Show of 1951
Every year about this time of year as flowers show their beautiful colors as a sure sign of spring. Spring sure has arrived here in Huntington Beach, but you might have missed it with the June-gloom weather we are experiencing right now.
But we may not have notice that it is springtime, but the flowers in your garden, along roadways and in neighborhood parks have. Everywhere the flowers of spring are blooming with their multitude of colors, and this got me to thinking of how much flowers have enriched our lives at home and in many of our events throughout the years.
To honor the beautiful flowers found in our community, the Huntington Beach Garden Club, the Chamber of Commerce and city officials, sponsored a huge flower show in 1951.
In April of that year the club’s treasurer and chairman of this year’s event, John A. Emslie, named the chairmen of the various committees. Clara Coupland was selected to chair the judging committee, while William Gallienne became the prizes and organizations chair, while the entertainment chair was put in the capable hands of Tom Talbert. Other chair people included David Todd, Martha White, Louise Jenkins, Frank Catching and Fred Colman.
Garden Club President Tom Talbert announced that this grand flower show would be held at Memorial Hall on Friday evening May 4th and Saturday May 5, 1951. During the 1940s and 1950s the Huntington Beach Garden Club was very prominent in our downtown community.
This year’s flower show featured exhibits from many of our local organizations and businesses, as well as from the students from our elementary and high schools. Emslie arranged to have the Huntington Beach High School band on hand for the opening and the Boy’s Christian Athletic Club choir and the orchestra from the Country Church of Talbert under the able leadership of John Lawrence for the second night.
Appearing also at the opening of the show was Orange County Supervisor Willis Warner. It wasn’t hard to get Warner to speak at this event since he owned Warner Hardware on Main Street.
Trace Cooper reminded all entrants that they must have their exhibits in place no later than 10 a.m. of the opening day. This year exhibitors were required to furnish their own containers and there were 750 entries.
There were Forty-two local businesses who donated prizes and Louise Jenkins handed many of these out as door prizes.
There was no admission charged to enter the show, but for one thin dime, Edna Herron and her committee would serve you coffee or tea and cookies.
A magnificent fragrance filled the air as the doors were opened for the 15th Annual Spring Flower Show as Huntington Beach Mayor Vernon Langenbeck formally opened the exhibit to the public.
Jessie and David Todd supplied four-dozen red amaryllis for the stage background that were grown in the Todd’s garden especially for this show. Minnie Higgins created a special table display as a memorial tribute to the memory of R.G. “Scotty” Hudson, a former president of the Garden Club.
Art instructor Rhetta Gillette and her pupils from the grammar school created a lovely display of flowers and grasses.
In this year’s show were two oil paintings, one by Verne Nelson of Huntington Beach entitled “Native Boy” and another oil by Costa Mesa artist David Vaughn called “Eve, The Human Flower,” and these two oil paintings were surrounded by beautiful flowers and illuminated by lights.
Huntington High Art Instructor Geraldine Douglas and her students showed off their resourcefulness in their arrangement of flowers.
Pearl Wilson had grown true Flanders poppies for the American Legion Auxiliary’s display. These poppies had come from seeds she had purchased some fifteen years earlier in Flanders Field in France. Their richly red blooms with their black cross in their center were now the only true Flanders poppies grown in our town.
A display of roses and gladiolus were on display by John Fonseca and from the garden of Lincoln and Leona Lenhart came twenty-five entries. B.T. Mollica had an unusual display of braided palm leaves for the Holy Name’s Society and Catholic Daughters.
The winner for this year’s show for the best rose went to John Bartshe and for the best iris went to Arch Lockett and for the best flower in this show went to “Cap” Sheue and the best flowering shrub going to Ruby Davis.
Flower shows and neighborhood community events like this have been relegated to the past as quaint, as we have no time to spare to hold them in our work-a-day world.
Today if you take the time to look about, flowers still continue to play an important part in our daily lives, all thanks to the many green thumbs we have in our community.