We have been exploring the history of Camden State Park, our southwest Minnesota recreational wilderness.

Camden’s largest attendance experience was likely when it served as host site for Minnesota’s Centennial Pageant in July 1949. The event celebrated the Congressional Act of March 3, 1849, that created the Minnesota Territory.

The Marshall Messenger celebrated the event with a special edition, “Lyon County Historical Magazine,” published July 12, 1949.

This special edition introduced Harold Searls of St. Paul as State Director of Centennial Pageants and pageant narrator. He led a touring company to sites around the state that included a core cast with Native American actors as well as crews for makeup and costumes, sound and recording equipment, and livestock and large properties. Camden hosted the pageant for a six-county region that included, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Pipestone, Rock, and Yellow Medicine counties.

Each county provided representatives to a central planning committee that coordinated local arrangements. An executive committee of Marshall’s L.P Johnson and Dr. F.A. Ohlson, Ruthton’s Hans C. Pederson, and Slayton’s Judge G.C. Kolander supervised the entire enterprise.

The pageant provided many opportunities for local citizens to participate in the planning and in the pageant itself. Marshall Public Schools music director, George Wingert, Jr. organized the music. Mrs. Adena Banks of rural Lynd was in charge of local casting. Camden’s park manager, John Ponstein, was in charge of properties to outfit and equip the cast. G.H. Kolander of Slayton served as pageant treasurer. George Lowe of Marshall was in charge of transportation. Ludwig Hanson of Granite Falls organized the pageant’s folk dancing sequences. J.B. Gislason of Minneota organized the effort to recruit and provide special seating for regional “Old Settlers.” Finally, Marshall’s Roland Rans organized parking and policing for the pageant.

Mrs. Banks’ daughter-in-law, Marquita Banks, recalled in a recent interview how Adena Banks, the local casting director, described the cooperation the pageant required.

“They spoke so often about this that it must have been a real joint effort with a lot of folks. That was interesting, how they worked kind of as a group to have this pageant. It must have been a really important event.”

The Marshall Messenger featured the pageant again in a front page article on July 14th under the headline, “Plans Complete for Camden Pageant.” This story announced that Minnesota’s Queen of the Minnesota Territorial Centennial, 17 year-old Mary Drury of Fairmont, would preside over the Saturday performance. Dean Julius Nolte of the University of Minnesota would attend both performances in his capacity as Director of the State Centennial Program.

The same article explained that the pageant site would also feature Danish folk dancers from the Tyler area and square dancers from Granite Falls. Each performance would be preceded by a concert by the Marshall High School band. The pageant setting would feature a re-creation of a plains Native American village as a backdrop for the many scenes involving Native American cast members. The pageant program would survey Minnesota’s history in seven episodes

The article also listed fifty local or regional residents whom Mrs. Adena Banks had cast for roles in the pageant including twenty-six from the Lynd area; twelve from the Tyler area; five from Marshall; four from Yellow Medicine County; and three from the Russell area.

The cast and crew presented the 1½ hour pageant on Saturday and Sunday, July 16th and 17th to enormous crowds. The Marshall Messenger’s July 19th edition headline shouted, “15,000 View Camden Pageant.” The article reported that an estimated crowd of 12,000 on Sunday “overran Camden State Park.” Marshall’s Dr. F.A. Ohlson, Pageant Secretary, reported the attendance estimate on Sunday was based on the number of cars “parked bumper to bumper in every available space in the park.” Many families had come to Camden early to picnic prior to the pageant. Sunday’s overwhelming turnout followed a heavy attendance of an estimated 3,000 for the Saturday performance.

Marshall’s Company L of the 135th Infantry Regiment of the Minnesota Army National Guard provided troops to guide traffic both days. 1st Lieutenant Donald Lee, officer-in-charge on Sunday, reported that motorists departing the park after the pageant ended at 4 pm drove carefully, so that it was 6:15 pm before the park’s traffic cleared. State Patrol troopers also helped manage the traffic as it moved through Lynd and east onto Highway 23 or west onto County 5.

Dr. Ohlson summarized the event saying, “I think the pageant was carried out in fine shape” and praised the cooperative efforts of the six-county region in staging the event.

Hosting the weekend pageant was a one-time and remarkable event in the life of our southwest Minnesota wilderness recreation park.

I welcome your participation in and ideas about our exploration of prairie lives. You may reach me at prairieview pressllc@gmail.com.