This day in history: Othello float committee said Spokane’s Lilac parade unfairly judged float celebrating women’s rights

From 1975: The Othello (Wash.) (Washington) Community Float Committee declared that it got a “bum rap” from the judges of Spokane’s Lilac Festival Parade.

They contended that the float was unfairly deemed “radical,” and the Spokane media exacerbated the problem by mistakenly rendering the float’s theme as “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby.” The actual message was “You’ve Come a Long Way, Lady.”

The float included three sets of 12-foot high scales and “three ladies are atop the 45-foot-long float to show the progression of equal justice rights for women.” The float won the Bicentennial Award at the Wenatchee Apple Blossom Festival, but nothing at the the Lilac Parade.

“We don’t question whether we won or not,” the float committee president said. “But we question the way they arrived at the decision.”

From 1925: How were Spokane residents spending the Memorial Day weekend?

A lot of people were heading out to the dance halls. An ad for Camp Comfort at Medical Lake advertised stage (bus) service to the camp from downtown Spokane. The resort had an “Automatic Electric Piano” so that you could “dance any time” on Sunday from 7:30 p.m. until midnight.

Over at the Spokane Armory, the women’s auxiliary to the National Guard was hosting its weekly “old-fashioned dance.” Another option: The Garden, “home of the refined dancing.”

Other people were attending an orchestra performance at the Liberty Theater led by Vic Meyers, “nationally known concert and dance orchestra director.”

Baseball fans took in a doubleheader at Natatorium Park, or a college game between Gonzaga and Whitman.