Kansas City, MO - There was a time when New Orleans was not the only town known for big parades and parties.
Kansas City had its own celebration, called the Priests of Pallas, beginning in the late 1800s, when the city was known as the Athens of the west.
"The Priests of Pallas parade was essentially a commercial festival put together by some local businessmen here in town," said Kate Hill, senior archivist with the Kansas City Public Library. "The first official parade was in 1887."
Pallas Athene was the name of the Greek goddess of wisdom, crafts and war. The mythological character is better known to most people as Athena.
An agricultural fair and exposition was already established in Kansas City, and the men behind the Priests of Pallas wanted another attraction.
Festivals took place during the fall, with parade crowd estimates ranging from 50,000 to 750,000 for the three nights. Each parade had its own theme.
"There was a Tradesmen's Parade, the official Priests of Parade and also the Flower Parade, and that was mostly for kids," Hill said.
Horse-drawn floats were the main attraction at the parades in the earliest years. Floats later traveled down streetcar tracks. Postcards with float designs were mailed to residents because the huge crowds made it hard for everyone to see the floats.
"Parades would usually happen at night because it was considered more mysterious," Hill said. "People would carry torches next to the parade. Illustrations were basically the best way to see any detail on the floats."
Some of the floats were very ambitious for their time, perhaps too ambitious.
"In 1905 four floats caught fire because of the fire element on the floats -- several depicted volcanoes," Hill said. "I guess whatever they used to create the volcano effect didn't work, or worked too well."
The Priests of Pallas organizers held a grand ball each year. VIP's and people who subscribed to the P.O.P. newsletter were secretly invited to the ball by a mysterious figure simply called Jackson.
"Jackson would determine who among the subscribers were eligible to attend the ball," Hill said. "He would send them a formal invitation, very elaborate, and he would also send them a souvenir."
To this day no one knows who Jackson was. Someone once posted an offer of $500 in the newspaper for the identity. Nothing ever came of it, Hill said.
The last Priests of Pallas festival took place in 1912, and the tradition was revived from 1922 to 1924. Organizers abandoned the celebration after it became too expensive for city businesses to support it.
