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Tied For May Day Queen

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By FRANCES LANGFORD NEWKIRK

Special to the Tribune

Published: May 18, 2008

TAMPA - When I was a girl in the 1920s, celebrating May Day was one of Tampa's annual traditions. I don't know when the tradition started or when it ended, but the May Day Festival was a big event for more than 25 years.

Every child in elementary school looked forward to this day. Many of my friends still remember the special times we had on May Day.

My younger brother, Jack, and I went to the celebration every year with our parents, Estelle and Corley Langford. It was held at Plant Field, along the Hillsborough River near North Boulevard. The University of Tampa's Pepin-Rood Stadium is there today.

Years ago, people watched the Gasparilla Parade or sporting events from a covered grandstand area at Plant Field. That was where the Florida State Fair was held before moving to its current site.

The May Day Festival was in the afternoon. Thousands of children would come. I always saw many of my friends with their families.

Plant Field would be decorated with May Poles, tall wooden poles decorated with flowing pastel ribbons. Pastel colors seemed to be floating everywhere, creating a beautiful sight.

Each elementary school in Hillsborough County had its own May Pole and students were chosen to dance around the pole and wrap it in ribbons at the festival. It was an honor to be picked for this and the children would practice every day for weeks.

The May Pole dance required each child to hold onto a ribbon and not let go. They circled the pole in rhythm - in and out and around, weaving the ribbons together and hoping to create the best-wrapped pole.

Music accompanied their dance. When the song stopped, the judges announced the school with the prettiest May Pole.

The festival always attracted big crowds and people dressed in their finest clothes. Depending on the year, the festival also featured special events, from comedy routines to circus parades.

But the most important part of the May Day was the coronation ceremony of the new King and Queen.

I was part of the ceremony in 1929. I was in the fifth grade at B.C. Graham Elementary and voted to be the school's May Day Queen. It was exciting to be picked out of the whole school, especially since sixth graders usually won. My parents were so proud.

My mother was an excellent seamstress and started making a dress for me. It was a beautiful white dress with long sleeves and a Queen Anne collar decorated with stitched pink roses. There were ruffles that got larger down the body of the dress. I had never felt so glamorous in all of my life.

The contest wasn't a beauty pageant, though. May Day Kings and Queens were chosen for being active, doing well in their studies and getting along well with other students.

Meanwhile, my brother Jack, who was two years younger than me, said I won because he went around and made the kids vote for me. I don't know why I won and I'm not sure I cared why I won. I was just thrilled.

The winning Queens and Kings of each school went to the recreation department, where judges picked the Queen and King for all of Hillsborough County. The competition ended in a tie between me and my good friend Anna Neal, who went to Robert E. Lee Elementary School.

When the tie was announced, we just grabbed each other and hugged. We were both so excited. She was a real sweet, lovable person, and she lived next door to my aunt and uncle so we played all the time.

To end the tie, they had us draw straws, and Anna won. Really, it didn't matter who won. We were both just thrilled to be in the festival together. So she was May Day Queen, and I was her first maid.

We were announced to everyone in the grandstands, and with the Queens and Kings of their schools, proudly walked across the stage at the May Day Festival. It looked like a wedding. The girls wore floor-length, white dresses and tiaras and carried beautiful pastel bouquets. The boys wore dark suits.

Later, I went to high school in Brandon. My family moved there when my father purchased cattle and orange groves.

When I married Billy Newkirk, we moved to a neighborhood close to where I had lived as a child. Billy went to B.C. Graham, too, but was a couple years older than me and never had time to worry about the May Day Festival. I think he was too busy chasing the girls.

Our two children, Tom and Jack, also were students at B.C. Graham, and by then the May Day Festival had stopped.

I feel so proud to have been part of Tampa tradition of celebrating May Day. The city is still my home, and I am blessed to say it also continues to be home to my sons, all but one of my grandchildren, and each of my great-grandchildren.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Frances Langford Newkirk has lived in Tampa all of her life. Recently, she celebrated her 90th birthday with her two children, four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and many other relatives and friends.

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P.O Box 191, Tampa FL 33601. Submissions cannot be returned. Be sure to include a contact phone number.

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