the celebration and the queen and her court , the big parade will start at 1 p . m . Friday . From the motorcycle escort to the last float the parade will be more than two miles long , according to Parade Chairman E . L . Admonson , and at intervals between agricultural , commercial and community floats more than a dozen visiting bands will blare their martial music .
Friday night ’ s horse show is expected to be over by 10:30 o ’ clock when the coronation ball for the queen will begin at the high school gymnasium . Governor Cooper and Miss Stong are expected to lead the grand march to the music of a nationally known orchestra .
Until rideathon time Saturday there is not any organized program , and visitors are expected to spend that time viewing the uptown exhibits of antiques and manufactured products .
Sufficient time has been allowed on the rideathon schedule to permit riders to return in time for the beginning of the finals in the horse show competition at 7:30 o ’ clock Saturday night .
Planned primarily for the purpose of emphasizing the particular adaptations of the Tennessee Walking Horse to use as a pleasure animal , the celebration program provides classes for gaited horses and ponies , and for roadster and fine harness horses . Some of the best in these classes already are entered for the competition here .
The love of a man for a horse seems nowhere else to be more freely expressed than when there is no effort to express it , but when fans congregate after dinner to talk about horses . And they do that here and in Wartrace — when there are no celebration committee meetings to attend .
When Bob Murchison leans back in an easy chair on the wide porch of the Walking Horse Hotel in Wartrace and begins to tell Mrs . Margaret Clary about “ Red Ace ” the gleam in his eyes reflects something akin to hero worship . Murchison has been telling Mrs . Clary about “ Red Ace ” now for six weeks during which time she has been here to write special articles for the American Horseman ’ s walking horse edition . Here for a shorter time , but busy every day , John Horst , of Pittsburgh , Pa ., one of the nation ’ s leading photographers of horses , has taken pictures also for the American Horseman edition . BECOMING A FAN
Horst came in two weeks ago with a trailer fully equipped with dark room and all other photographic facilities . He will remain for the finals of the show , and rapidly is becoming a walking horse fan .
That is easy to do in this environment . It is almost inescapable .
Orr , who came here from Columbia at the invitation of the executive committee to direct the 1940 celebration , was jubilant tonight as one by one the various committee chairmen came in with reports that their part of the planning has been done . His enthusiasm was shared by Chairman Parker , Vice-Chairman Clyde Tone , Secretary-Treasurer P . J . Scudder , and Finance Chairman Franklin Boyd .
The director-general ’ s office staff headed by Miss Mildred Alexander who was assisted by Miss Martha Brown and Miss Rachel Gunn , had completed the mailing of nearly 12,000 copies of the “ Blue Ribbon ” and late tonight all hands were put to the task of completing entry blanks and arranging exhibitors ’ credentials .
With most of Bedford County already “ cantering ” there were good reasons to believe tonight that before the mass meeting Monday night is over the well-known cry of the show ring , “ let ’ em go ”— signal that sends horses into their best speed — will be heard from Flat Creek to Bell Buckle and from Wartrace to Whitaker .
What Is Celebration ? ( Cont ' d .)
There are those , of course , who would emphasize a different aspect of the event by referring to it as " A Big Family Homecoming with a Horse Show ,” and there is admittedly much golden truth in this description . First , you must consider that Shelbyville , Tennessee , is a town of exactly 10,466 people ( 1960 census ), and yet it entertains some 25,000 or more visitors from all states and several foreign countries during this big event . Put that many visitors and natives in close quarters once a year for several years and you will soon have a Walking Horse Lovers Family Tribe converging on Bedford County for an annual reunion and homecoming . Needless to add , in the best old traditions of the New South every visitor is made to feel right at home in no time at all . Where else can you meet a fellow Walking Horse enthusiast who ranches in Montana , who pumps oil in Texas , who plants cotton in Arkansas , who sells stocks and bonds on the banks of the Mississippi , who grows oranges in Florida , who builds roads in North Carolina , who farms in Alabama , who is the most respected doctor in his city in Georgia , who raises poultry in Oregon , who is a housewife in Indiana , who is a school girl in Mississippi , who trains horses professionally in California or Tennessee or Ohio , who sells Pontiacs in Kentucky , or who is “ just retired ” in Arizona ?
“ An Old-Fashion Camp Meeting Where Horses Are the Religion ” may appear to be a very extravagant description of the Celebration . Perhaps the comparison is largely lost upon most of the modern generation . But the old-timers know what they mean when they use the term . The seething excitement day after day , the hustle and bustle of great throngs of people , the tears and the triumphs , the single minded concentration upon one major interest to the virtual exclusion of all others , the indifference to creature comforts during a period of intense activity .— these the Camp meeting and the Celebration have in common . Beyond this , the comparison is “ better felt than told .” You must inhale the atmosphere for yourself to understand .
We will expect you by the VOICE trailer throughout the week . Make it your “ home away from home ” as we together enjoy the Celebration — a Community Miracle , the Greatest Horse Show on Earth , a Big Family Homecoming with a Horse Show , an Old- Fashioned Camp Meeting Where Horses are the Religion .
30 VOICE of The Tennessee Walkin '.: Morse