Above: Women outfitted as chickens — who would later come to be known as the Petaluma Slick Chicks — pose during the Egg Day celebration in Petaluma, 1920. In the photo are Viola Baldwin, Ruby Fallon, Carmen Bergsted, Mildred Hogan, Eda Peters, Helen Ludden, Beulah Peterson, Myrtle Thomas, Majorie Stillwell, Evelyn Chase and Emily Spaich. (Sonoma County Library)
by Skip Sommer, Historian
The ‘Roaring Twenties’ were going strong in 1926, with such hot dance crazes as The Charleston, Black Bottom and The Cake Walk . The ‘Flappers’, with bobbed hair and short skirts, drinking illegal alcohol and smoking cigarettes in public, had created major social and political change in the country. People were weary from WWI, and wanted to enjoy life again. The times came to be called: “The Jazz Age” and, …Women, set Free, by such improvements as the washing machine, refrigerator, vacuum cleaner and electric iron, felt they could pretty much do anything they desired. The advent then, of something called “birth control” broadened those thoughts, as well. The times marked a major jump forward in the Women’s Liberation cause, and Petaluma didn‘t opt out.
The advent of the automobile had also become a force in social change and there were several thousand in Sonoma County by ‘26. And, even in the midst of prohibition, the imbibing of alcohol was prevalent, as liquor had gone underground and was sold behind “Speak-easy” doors. Bootleggers and, eventually, organized crime, proved the Volstead Prohibition Act to be a false savior. But meanwhile, our country was experiencing a “New Morality” and, it thrived.
Industrialist Henry Ford, gearing-up for his 1927 production of the famed ‘Model T’ auto, had started his own revolution with an 8 hour work-day, 5 day week, at $5.00 a day, for something he called his: “Assembly Line”. Ford also got on the band wagon and encouraged women to work, and those women, having received the right to vote in 1920, were loudly making their voices heard.
The architectural world was going ’Art Deco’, while the art world had morphed into ’Impressionism’ and ’Surrealism’ with such names as Hopper, Dali, Picasso and Cezanne. While writers such as Hemingway, Faulkner and Scott Fitzgerald, were dominating the literary scene. The music world was swept into ‘Dixieland’ and ‘Ragtime‘, by such greats as Louie Armstrong, Dizzie Gillespie, Duke Ellington and singer-dancer Josephine Baker.
And, the Nation’s move to urbanization had become unstoppable, as 1926 became the first year that more Americans lived in cities than on farms. For the farmers had not universally shared in that national prosperity of the twenties and farm prices had fallen, as a result. Six million farmers left rural life for the cities in the twenties.
However, Petaluma, …still a small farm community then, was booming with its poultry and egg production. Magnus Vonson, President of our Chamber of Commerce, said in 1926: “Every member of this community, regardless of whether he lives in the town or in the country, thinks mainly in terms of hens and cows.” It was estimated there were then nearly 2,000 chicken farms in the Petaluma and Penngrove area, with an average size of 7 acres and our ‘C. of C.’ had wisely hired a hot promoter named Bert Kerrigan. Kerrigan had dubbed our town: “The World’s Egg Basket” and he produced an annual ‘Petaluma Egg Day’ celebration, with a parade and a Queen and a lot more!
The Egg Day of 1926 was, in Roaring Twenties parlance, a “Bees Knees” affair which began in Kenilworth Park with 8,000 in attendance (1,000 more than our town’s population) ! It featured a concert by the Petaluma Municipal Band, free barbeque, games, stunts and contests and a carnival named ‘A.B.C. Attractions’ with “a riotous act” called: “Adam & His Clown Mule“. There was also staged an ‘Egg Day Shelling“, in which 59 of our local shot gunners laid waste to about 1,000 eggs. (Must have been some bodacious clean-up after 1,000 busted eggs).
There was also a horse shoe pitching contest and several races of interest, by the grand stands. 50 and 100 yard dashes, sack races, egg and spoon races for both men and women. There was even a “Fat Man Race” for gentlemen over 200 pounds ! (That was won by ‘Chappy’ Carpenter, whom they said, had finished “a bit out of breath“). Mel Acorne was the announcer and Police Chief Flohr had wielded the starting pistol. Our Courier Editor commented that the contestants had showed “much pluck, determination and guts“.
But certainly any Egg Day event must include a lot about eggs. Sooooo, there was an “Egg Candling Contest for World Champion”, plus an Egg Rolling Race, an Egg Eating Contest, a six mile Egg Day Marathon and a “Most appetizing pie or cake made with EGGS” contest. (Oh My !)
Later that day, the celebration moved to Center Park (at ‘B’ and Main) for a street dance and then, that evening, to the Petaluma High School Gym for coronation of the Egg Queen and more dancing. Attending was someone named, “Chief White Horse Eagle”, who crowned the Queen. The dance was said to have been “a rhythmic sea of harmonious motion and great fun for all”.
Keeping up with the changing times of ‘26, Petaluma’s Tomasini Hardware was featuring the John Deere Manure Spreader and demonstrations were to be had in-store. (Huh?) Not to be out-done, our Schluckibier Hardware Co. was selling the Meadows Model ‘H’ Washing Machine, with a ringer that “has a safety device”. (to keep body parts from being squeezed ?). Schluckibier’s window display then, sported a stuffed lion that “roared, wagged it’s tail and opened and closed its mouth”. The King of Beasts thus,… drawing attention to: “The King of Washers”.
And, Petaluma’s Piggly Wiggly Store at 114 Main, was giving a good deal on Horseshoe Tobacco at .60 cents a plug. If one wanted to light-up, matches there were only .04 cents a box. “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” was the hit song that year
and playing at our Mystic Theater was: “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Work” starring Lionel Barrymore and…if one was thirsty, there were several joints that, in local defiance of prohibition, featured some good thirst-quenching in not-so-secret back room ‘Speaks‘, at the time.
Nationally that year, Walt Disney had just opened his studio in L.A., Boxer Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey, George Burns married Gracie Allen, “Winnie The Pooh” was published and, …to address a 21st Century issue, the first semi-automatic weapon was patented. …. (Oh well, …at least, they didn‘t have ‘bump-stocks‘ yet).
