From 1932 through 1942, the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce and local service clubs sponsored an annual Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival at Mount Rainier National Park. Evolving from informal inter-club contests into a skiing competition, the event drew people around Washington to the park to celebrate community spirit and alpine thrills.

Longmire Beginnings for the Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival

A Tacoma “mid-winter” carnival was first held at Longmire on the last weekend in January 1932. The two-day event opened Saturday with the crowning of a carnival queen and a dance at the National Park Inn. Visitors also enjoyed moonlight tobogganing.

The following day, clubs competed in informal (and inventive) winter sports. There was a frosty snowshoe baseball game, as well as a snowball fight between women and 100 men defending “Fort Alimony.” Four feet of fluffy new snow canceled the exhibition ski jumping. Tobogganing was enjoyed all day, and 1,500 attended the carnival.  

The audience grew to 2,000 in 1933. New events included dishpan sledding races, “polar putting” (golf), tug of war and ski racing. No queen was selected that year.

Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival
17-year-old Stadium High School senior Mary Thomas was crowned queen of the 1942 Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival by John C. Preston, superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park. Her attendants were Juanita Daniel (left) of Lincoln High School and Margaret Johnson (right) of the College of Puget Sound. The three could ski, which was rare for winter sports queen candidates. Photo courtesy: Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio D12451-1

Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival Moves Up to Paradise

In 1934, the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce partnered with Tacoma service clubs to sponsor the carnival. But now they wanted something more significant. They moved the event to Paradise, which had better snow, and shifted the program to skiing competitions, which were open to ski club members from throughout Washington. The new “Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival” was born.

Visitors parked at Narada Falls and hiked up to Paradise Inn, with 1,600 in attendance the first year.

Every year the event opened with the coronation of the carnival queen on Saturday. Candidates were local high school or college students nominated by Tacoma service clubs. The queen and her two runners-up attendants (or princesses) were selected by mail-in ballots clipped from the Tacoma News Tribune.

The coronation was accompanied by a dinner and dance, the “queen’s ball,” at the Paradise Inn’s lobby. Others enjoyed a “top o’the mountain” bridge game.

The queens were: Mary Alice Shaw (1932), Gertrude Waech (1934), Jean McDonald (1935), Mary Lilleberg (1936), Maurita Shank (1937), Gretchen Kunigk (1938), Peggy Mason (1939), Wyona Diemer (1940), Virginia Davis (1941), and Mary Thomas (1942).

Skiing events were held on Sunday or “Tacoma Day.” The program typically consisted of a men’s slalom, women’s slalom, and downhill racing for boys under age 16. Trophies were supplied by local companies. The Tacoma Times sponsored men’s slalom and Rhodes Brothers the women’s slalom. Sverre Grimstead, a Tacoma jeweler and watchmaker, gave the boy’s downhill trophy. Winners received an eclectic array of merchandise prizes from Tacoma businesses, ranging from ski equipment and coats to chocolate and clocks.

Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival
Skiers gather for the 1938 Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival at the snowbound Paradise Inn on Mount Rainier. Photo courtesy: Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio D7080-19

Meet Me at Mount Rainier

Held the last weekend of January (early February in 1938), the carnival became only more popular over time, with 1,600 attending the 1934 competitions despite lousy weather.

The year 1937 brought relief for visitors when a new park bus system was offered from Narada Falls, allowing them to ride rather than hike to the event. That year, 3,045 attended. The park also installed loudspeakers for announcers. Highlights of the carnival were broadcast over local radio.

The competition proved fierce in 1937. Don Fraser (Seattle), a member of the 1936 U.S. Olympics team, came in first in men’s slalom. Fellow team member Ethlynne “Skit” Smith was third in women’s slalom. Ill, she nearly collapsed at the finish line. Don Fraser’s future wife, Gretchen Kunigk, won the women’s slalom. Later that year, she and Carlton Weigel (Tacoma), who came in fourteenth at men’s slalom, would double for Sonia Henie and Tyrone Power in ski scenes filmed at Mount Rainier for the movie “Thin Ice.” Kunigk later won gold in slalom and silver in alpine combined skiing at the 1948 Olympics.

Don Fraser won men’s slalom again in 1938.

Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival
The 1942 Tacoma Winter Sports Carnival queen Mary Thomas (center) presents awards. Rita Hume (Seattle) won the Rhodes Brothers trophy for women’s slalom, and Jack Horr (Stadium High School) the Sverre Grimstead trophy for Junior Downhill. Photo courtesy: Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio D12451-9

War Clouds Over Mount Rainier

One hundred eleven competitors entered the 1940 carnival, and 50 prizes were offered, including a series for the top Tacoma skiers. Shirley McDonald, attendant to Queen Gretchen in 1938, became the first Tacoma woman to win the women’s slalom. Three thousand five hundred attended.

In 1941, the carnival was held in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest Ski Association’s Zone 1 (Western Washington) competition. Here for training, the 15th Infantry’s Ski Patrol entertained the crowds with a demonstration of “retreat” maneuvers near the Paradise ranger station.

The Young Men’s Business Club entered a float in the Daffodil Festival Parade that year to celebrate the carnival. “From Ski Level to Sea Level” won the sweepstakes award. Dressed in ski clothes, Queen Virigina sat by a confetti-decked Mount Rainier while two young women in swimsuits sat by the “sea.”

The last carnival was held in 1942. This event was combined with the “first annual” Tacoma high school skiing championship on Saturday. But now America was at war. Should the carnival continue next year?

Many wanted to keep it going. “During these strenuous times,” park superintendent John C. Preston wrote carnival organizers, “all of our people should live as nearly normal lives as possible. Play is an essential part of the defense program. Healthy, vigorous citizens will help to bring victory.”

In the end, however, continuing the winter sports carnival proved impossible. Many of the men who would compete joined the military, and gasoline rationing discouraged people from traveling. Tacoma’s carnival did not resume after the war.

Today, visitors can enjoy a wide variety of winter sports at Mount Rainier National Park, including backcountry skiing and snowboarding. The Winter Sports Carnival may be gone, but Tacoma’s love for the mountain remains just as strong as ever.