The Rainier District Pow Wow began in the midst of the Great Depression as a day-long community picnic at Seward Park. Between 1934 and 1992, when it ended, pow wow events paralleled what was going on in the rest of the country, celebrating neighborhood commerce in the 1930s, patriotism during World War II, the Baby Boom of the late 1940s to mid-1950s, and so on. Eventually, the pow wow became part of Seattle’s Seafair.

In this image judges announce the winners of a pie eating contest held during the festival. Two of the boys hold prizes of a new softball, and a third clutches a whole watermelon. Other events that day included a bicycle derby, a bathing-beauty contest, a baby beauty contest, and a husband-calling contest.

Caption information source: "Rainier District Pow Wow (1934-1992)," by Cassandra Tate, HistoryLink.org Essay 9526.
Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, July 25, 1947, p. 13.
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff.