Name/Title
Pavilion Costume Contest 1933Entry/Object ID
2023.10.387Scope and Content
Text and images from an April 2009 story previous available on the pre-2023 SDHC website. The content has been moved to the online catalog for safekeeping.Context
For over 50 years, the Saugatuck Pavilion was a center of entertainment for young and old. One of the annual events in the early 1930s was a Costume Party and contest, with cash prizes for the winners. In 1933, four young girls, two locals and two summer people were a part of the competition. The oldest, Phyllis Pamperien, a college sophomore, designed and sewed the costumes, which consisted of a milk maid outfit and a cow suit. Local teens Betty and Vivian Powers, and Elizabeth Pamperien, sister of Phyllis, were the contestants. Vivian, a beauty who was to be the 1937 Blossom Queen, was the milk maid, while Betty and Elizabeth did their duty the inside of the cow.
Betty (Powers) Strampel Dorr and Phyllis (Pamperien) Yoder have both passed on, but Vivian (Powers) Chambers of Grand Rapids, and Elizabeth (Pamperien) Schultz, of Arlington Heights, IL, are still with us. Vivian recalls that the winning prize, "was supposed to be $15, but somebody goofed, and we only received $7."
The cash was divided four ways between the girls.
The moral of this tale, says Elizabeth, is that even if your sister makes the costume, you can still end up being the rear end of a cow.Collection
1909 Big Pavilion -1960Cataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2023.10Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionLocation
* Untyped Location
Digital data in CatalogItRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Chambers, Vivian "Viv" (Powers) 1920-2015, Dorr, Betty Jane (Powers) Strampel 1921-1980General Notes
Note
This information was copied from the pre-2023 SDHC website. The location of an original version was unknown at the time of cataloging.Create Date
January 10, 2024Update Date
January 13, 2024
