Date: c. 1968

 

Description: This photo shows one of the main events of the Port of Sioux City River-Cade, a yearly festival celebrating Sioux City’s history and culture on the river. The parade during River-Cade is usually one of the largest of the year, drawing in huge crowds all along the route. Here you can see the parade marching down Pierce Street, sometime in the late 1960s. Businesses, clubs, schools, and organizations of all kinds prepare floats and banners to take part in the celebration. The parade, however, is just one of the many events that take place during the River-Cade festival. Each year a Queen of the River is nominated, and beauty and smile contests were held. The carnival was always a big draw with rides and attractions, as are the car shows and fireworks displays. River-Cade is a festival about the river, so naturally many kinds of water activities take place: canoe derbies, boat and waterski races, raft regattas, and fishing tournaments. There are events celebrating the culture of the Midwest as well, like rodeos, square dances, tractor pulls, and Dixieland bands. There have even been Corn Palace mural contests, where people use grain to recreate the elaborate murals that once decorated Sioux City’s Corn Palaces. There are also social events at the festival, like ice cream socials and drive-in movies. Sioux City’s own Renaissance faire, Riverssance, is also put on by the River-Cade committee, and remains one of the most popular events of the festival. Concerts and shows are a huge part of the events as well. Sioux City’s River-Cade remains a much loved festival every year, and to this day draws in visitors from all over Siouxland.

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Donor: Douglas Davis, on behalf of Gilbert Ducommun