The Editors Came, Saw the Grapes, and Went Home to Boost Kennewick
For three days in September 1914 the young river town threw its Fourth Annual Grape Carnival, wined and dined the weekly editors of three counties, and sent them home to write love letters about cement sidewalks, shade trees and enormous bunches of grapes.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Saturday, September 19, the closing day of the Grape Carnival, the editors of the weekly newspapers of Yakima and Benton counties met in Kennewick. Last week the editors in attendance, in prominent articles on the front pages of their papers, expressed their views of the carnival, of the town and of the people. Extracts from several of these articles follow:
Prosser contributed a goodly number of visitors to Kennewick's Grape Carnival last week, and all who attended are enthusiastic about the showing made by our sister town. The business men and residents there got behind the carnival committee and helped boost the show. They not only boosted with talk but seemingly all got in and worked, else the show could not have been the success it was, as any Prosser man who attended will tell you.
The Carnival was a carnival in every respect. There was the usual Ferris wheel and merry-go-round for the youngsters, and a number of good attractions where the older people could get rid of their spare change. The exhibits were in three sections, or pavilions. Grapes, of course, were the principal feature, but the showing of other fruits, grains and vegetables was exceptionally good. So far as grapes are concerned, there is little doubt but that the Columbia River territory can produce a larger variety and a greater quantity of that luscious fruit than any section of the Northwest, if not the whole United States, while the flavor is all that could be asked for. In other fruits and vegetables there is little difference between the east and west ends of Benton county, and the Kennewick show had a most comprehensive exhibit. The displays were all tastefully arranged and Prosser people who attended felt amply repaid for their visit to the Columbia River town. — Republican-Bulletin (Prosser)
Kennewick, last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, had a marvelous display of grapes, fruit and vegetables raised in the Columbia River valley. It was the Fourth Annual Grape Carnival and hundreds of visitors from nearby towns were there. Editors of the weekly newspapers published in Benton, Yakima and Kittitas counties held a special meeting there Saturday, and it was the writer's good fortune to be able to make the trip. It was well worth going a long way to see those enormous bunches of the luscious fruit which hung about the exhibition rooms, and festoons of grapes were used for decorative purposes in many of the booths. Kennewick has many brick buildings in course of erection, and conditions seem better there than in any other town along the line. What looked good to the editor was the miles of cement sidewalks and the fine shade trees and parking strips. — Zillah Free Press
The Yakima-Benton-Kittitas Press Association held its regular fall meeting last Saturday at Kennewick, where the editors were the guests of Messrs. Gardner, Reed and Tripp of the Courier-Reporter, the Commercial Club and the Carnival management, all of whom outdid themselves in entertaining the editors. At noon the visitors were the guests of the Kennewick editors, and in the evening the Commercial Club gave a banquet in their honor, after which they were guests of the Carnival management. Kennewick, with its fine buildings, pleasant homes, abundance of good streets and sidewalks, made a very favorable impression on the editors, and the town's hospitality will not soon be forgotten. — Grandview Herald
The Kennewick boys, together with the Commercial Club, entertained in a most royal manner the visiting members, and the noonday luncheon to the association was only outclassed by the evening banquet, which was attended by several of the Kennewick people. Mayor Richardson welcomed most heartily the visit of the association and tendered the keys of the city to the body, in the cordial way that is so commonly found in hospitable Kennewick. Many remarks were made expressing the desire that such cordiality might be found always in other places as was found in Kennewick that day, at both the press doings and at the Carnival. We all hope to be invited there again some day. — Independent Record (Prosser)
Of the many cities and towns in the valley, Kennewick is among the best. It is located on the banks of the Columbia River, an ideal site, and its citizens are a progressive class, as is evidenced by the miles of concrete walks and the splendid business blocks which comprise the town proper. It is also the home of many beautiful residences, all adorned with well-kept lawns, and the shade trees about the streets and yards lend an air of comfort which is appreciated in the summer. There is one drawback to the town and surrounding country, and that is the question of roads, but we are given to understand that there is a tendency on the part of the commissioners of Benton county to devote attention to the roads in the near future, and the main arteries will be placed in the best possible condition. At present what is termed the river road, between Kennewick and the beautiful little town of Richland, is the best driveway in the district and is much in use by auto parties. The gravel and sand which comprise the soil of the Kennewick section cuts easily and the roadways are rough.
The editors held a short business session in the forenoon, adjournment being taken for lunch, which was served in the Kennewick Hotel. Immediately after lunch an auto ride was taken over the Highlands, where thousands of acres are devoted to the culture of fruit and vegetables. Here are some of the splendid homes and some of the best orchards in the valley. In the evening the visitors were guests of the Commercial Club at the Grape Carnival. Here was displayed in a pleasing manner the products of the farms, the exhibit of grapes predominating. Grapes grow in abundance in almost any section of the Yakima valley, but it would be hard to produce any superior or even equal to those on display at the Kennewick fair. The editors returned to their several homes Sunday, feeling well repaid for their visit to Kennewick and vicinity, and thankful to the members of the Commercial Club and citizens generally for the delightful entertainment furnished. — Wapato Independent
“What looked good to the editor was the miles of cement sidewalks and the fine shade trees and parking strips.”
Kennewick in 1914 was a brand-new town selling itself to the rest of the valley, and the Grape Carnival was its pitch: irrigation, concrete sidewalks, shade trees, buildable lots on the Highlands. A century later the same script runs on — water, roads and growth are still the arguments that decide what the Tri-Cities becomes. The visiting editors' one complaint, that the roads were rough, would sound familiar to anyone who has waited on a Benton County road project.
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