2 September , 1962
STORY OF GREATEST CELEBRATION EVER
By BEN A . GREEN
( Editor ’ s Note — Friends , we have decided to help you relive the 1962 Celebration play-by-play and thrill by thrill . To do so you must start with the Sunday Night show and read on and on . It is best to start at an interval when you will have about an hour , so you can read rapidly like you would look continuously at a ball game .
Working part-time for the TIMES-GAZETTE ( where we formerly were employed ), we wrote the lead stories and in fact all articles about action at the Celebration Grounds . Daily we went to bed at 1 a . m . and awoke at 5 a . m . ( without alarm clock ) and went immediately to the T-G office to write the stories . My special friend Charlie Goldswig , newspaper columnist , orator of note and president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Assn ., of Florida , told me : “ Ben , your stories in the paper are the finest I ever read in any newspaper anywhere about a horse show . Why don ’ t you print them in the Voice ?"
So we abandoned efforts to solicit advertising and limited coverage to just that sufficient to tell the story . Please keep this edition of the magazine . It will substitute for a Brochure of the 1962 Celebration . The TIMES-GAZETTE added only 27 copies to its press-run for Celebration coverage — and these extra copies were sent to drug stores . None were sold at the Celebration Ground so few visitors read our stories . Celebration paid attendance was Day 1961 as follows :
1962 Gain Monday 5,561 6,346 785 Tuesday 7,546 7,556 10 Wednesday 7,033 8,196 1,163 Thursday 6,229 10,599 4,370 Friday 10,987 11,671 684 Saturday 18,750 15,956 -2,794
Totals 56,106 60,324 4,218
One of the rarest phenomenons in Celebration history took place on Saturday night , Sept . I . The attendance was cut an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 by rain which did not actually fall in Shelbyville . At 6 p . m . there were reported to heavy thunderstorms in Nashville to the northwest , in Lewisburg to the southwest , in Murfreesboro to the north , in Winchester to the east . But not a drop fell in the Celebration Grounds area that night . Weather was perfect .
Some folks called Shelbyville friends and were reassured of the dry weather . Others failed to attend-although tickets were bought and in hand . Others could have secured general admission tickets and there were plenty of vacant seats . The Celebration used two entrance gates not equipped with turnstiles but tickets taken there were counted .
SUNDAY NIGHT
Youth in the saddle and wearing horseshoes on the track took centerstage at the spacious Celebration Grounds Sunday night to launch the 24th annual Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration before 6,000 spectators under a star-lit sky . They set the pace for a brilliant card tonight that features heavily filled preliminary classes in two-year-old and three-yearold walking fillies and geldings , ings .
It was the first Sunday night show in Celebration history — started at 8 o ’ clock p . m . with no admission charged . The throng in the stands included visitors from many states and some foreign countries . Celebration officials said every possible detail had been completed to make this greatest show in the Tennessee Walking Horse World the best ever , as well as the biggest .
Morning Classes One hundred and nine horses were in competition Monday morning , including duplications in the mare and foal class . First place winners were :
Weanling Fillies , Go Boy ’ s Lou , owned by Stanley McNabb Murfreesboro ; Weanling Horse Colts , Shadow ’ s Cavalier , sired by Go Boy ’ s Shadow out of Pride ’ s Queen H by Reynolds Pride out of a Major Bowes ’ mare ); Mare and Foal , Midnight ’ s Lady Ann and her foal , Go Boy ’ s Lady Ann sired by Merry Go Boydam sired by Midnight Sun .)
Tonight ' s opening event — Two- Year-Old Fillies — starts at 7:30 p . m . with stately White Sensation circling the track with Percy Moss of Bastrop , La ., in the saddle . Last night Steve Hill , winner of four Celebration grand championships ( 1949 on Midnight Merry and 1951-52-53 on Talk of the Town ) occupied this saddle . Moss won in 1954 on White Star . The Rev . Tom Hutson , vicar of the Church of the Redeemer , Episcopal , gave the invocation and William H . Caughran of Athens , Ala . sang The National Anlhemn .
Invocation — Opening Night Almighty God , Heavenly Father , Creator of all life , who has taught us in Holy Scriptures that our King of Kings and Lord of Lords shall ride in the last day to the throne of judgement upon a prancing white horse , grant to us sufficient grace faithfully to enjoy these handsome examples of Thine equestrian creation . Stir up , we beseech thee , Oh Lord , the wills of Thy faithful people here tonight — the grooms , owners , trainers , exhibitors , judges and spectators — that being directed by Thy Holy Spirit , we may let true sportsmanship reign . Let all that we do , be done to Thine honor and glory for Jesus Christ , our Lord , Amen . ( The Rev . Thomas Hutson , Vicar , Church of the Redeemer , Episcopal , Shelbyville , Tenn .) Yearling Walking Horse Colts of 1961 Foal brought 57 into the arena and 15 were judged after elimination
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