The Great Snohomish Masquerade Fever: Why Everyone Is Dressed Up
From private juvenile balls to town-wide spectacles, the local press reports a sudden craze for masquerades sweeping through Snohomish and neighboring Sound cities.
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.
MASQUERADES. Masquerade parties are all the rage just now. There was a fine one in Olympia last week, a large one here, A private one, the juvenile one, and 5 sheet and pillow case party. This week there will be one at our Town send on Thursday evening, and the probability is that, while the fever is raging, Steilacoom, Tacoma, Gamble, Snohomish and other places will catch it, and there will be a series and succession of such parties. Hitherto masquerades have been attended with much cost, difficulty, labor and trouble, and sometimes without the most satisfactory results. Now it is different. At all the principal points on the Sound are costumes which can be bought, hired or borrowed, and, with trifling changes, made to appear as new and nice as if got up for the occasion.— Tribune.
We see no reason why the fun-loving people here might not easily get up something of the kind, as there is now a large stock of costumes on hand in the place. W. G. Jamieson, of Seattle, has everything of this kind on hand, which he will loan for a nominal consideration, and a large party of people would come down from there And help the fun along.
In an era before mass-produced Halloween costumes or fast fashion, community entertainment relied on borrowing, hiring, and DIY ingenuity. The mention of W.G. Jamieson lending costumes for a 'nominal consideration' highlights how local merchants served as the hub for social capital and leisure, a stark contrast to today's digital rental apps and instant retail delivery.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.