BRIEF HISTORY OF CARNIVAL MEMPHIS
from www.carnivalmemphis.org

In 1931 Memphis and the Mid-South, like the rest of our country, were in the throes of the Great Depression. Many were out of work and the region's primary asset, cotton, was selling for pennies a pound. The prosperity of the Mid-South was dependent on cotton and measures had to be taken to increase the use of this precious commodity. At the same time, the Memphis Chamber of Commerce was having trouble raising money to compete with other cities in the South. A. Arthur Halle and a group of businessmen called on Herbert Jennings, a downtown theatre manager for a donation. Jennings agreed to contribute and shared an idea that he believed would help promote business and draw attention to cotton. To help publicize an upcoming movie, Jennings offered local retailers the opportunity to display cotton goods in his theatre and planned to encourage them to use their own store windows to promote cotton clothing. Halle was intrigued by the idea and envisioned a larger city-wide promotion and called his friend, Everett Cook who was President of the Cotton Exchange. Cook was invited to come to the theatre to hear the ideas. Those ideas quickly grew into a plan for a grand celebration with a King, Queen and Royal Court that would involve people from all over the Mid-South. The idea was to promote the use and wearing of cotton products which would lead to increased demand and stimulate sales. It worked, as people began to demand more cotton products from socks to ball gowns and the rest as they say, is history.

Cook expressed his vision this way: "Carnival is to promote business for everybody and should not be used by any one group. It is for all of the stores and all of the people, for all kinds of professions and businesses, for the city as a whole regardless of the size of the business, the social standing, wealth, prestige, family background or anything else that would tend to make anyone feel that he or she would not be invited to participate in Carnival."

Seventy-one years later, the mission of Carnival remains much the same as it was in 1931. To recognize and promote an industry that has a major economic impact on the Mid-South community, and to promote the City of Memphis as a great place to live and work, and to cause an annual celebration in honor of that industry and the people of the Mid-South. About fifteen years ago we dropped the Cotton from our name, since the community had grown in such tremendous ways, and our economy became more diversified. We accomplish this goal through our Three C's : Commerce, Community, Celebration. Part of our celebration is the King, Queen, and Royal Court, just as in 1931. The Royal Court is made up of young women mostly Freshmen in College. The Queen is a young lady at least a couple years older, and the King is a prominent business leader from the current year's saluted industry. Carnival Week is usually the first week of June, with this year's festivities commencing May 31 thru June 8. During this time the Twelve Grand Krewes of Carnival have coronations and parties celebrating their King, Queen and Court as well.

Carnival was started in order to promote the Commerce of the community and this pledge is even stronger today through the Business and Industry Salute. This luncheon is held the first week of May with awards being presented to local companies that have had great success stories. This year's featured industry is Financial Services. We will salute several companies to honor for their innovations in their industry, with the culmination being the Cook-Halle Award given to an individual for their contributions not only to their industry, but to our community as a whole. Previous winners of this coveted award named for our founders include: Fred Smith, Billy Dunavant, Pitt Hyde, Dick Tripeer, and Jack Belz.

All Carnival and Krewe Royalty participate in our Community involvement program called the Carnival Children's Charity Initiative. This program was started four years ago, in which five local Children's charities are selected and "adopted" by Carnival and the individual Krewes each year. Fundraisers are held for the charities and during Carnival week they are visited by their sponsoring Krewe and the Royal Court where a "Carnival" is held for them. There are treats, games, and a King and Queen are crowned. This is a great time for the kids as well as the adults. During the past three years, Carnival has donated more than $100,000 to these charities. Carnival's Community involvement goes beyond the Children's Charity Initiative as well, one of our Krewes Sphinx works with Toys For Tots, another Krewe RaMet built a Habitat For Humanity house, and the King, Queen and Court have worked with MIFA for years.