Electric carnival parade to be revived

2009-09-09T03:52:25Z

A night parade is in the works to be revived in Sacramento, more than 115 years after the spectacle lit up city streets to celebrate what was said to be the world's first long-distance electric power transmission.

The parade was first held Sept. 9, 1895, during a Grand Electric Carnival that heralded the arrival of electric power in Sacramento. Sacramento's electric carnival parade was so beautiful that Walt Disney Co. later used it as a model for its Electric Light Parade.

The Old Sacramento Business Association is working to revive the night parade during winter holiday festivities in 2011. The plan is to recreate the parade to expand the seasonal celebration and to play up the city's history as the birthplace of many innovations, said Melissa Martinez, executive director of the business association, a business improvement district.

"We were so innovative and we were so at the forefront," she said. "Somehow we've become sleepy. We're not looked at as the city that's dynamic and innovative — and yet everything we are was based on that."

The Grand Electric Carnival was held two months after electricity had first come to the capital 22 miles away from Folsom, where Folsom Dam had been completed in 1893. Until then, electricity hadn't been transmitted more than five miles.

The Sacramento Bee ran a story about the feat, and later, the electric carnival. "The Lightning Blazed," ran the headline, "And Flooded Sacramento's Streets With Lakes of Liquid Fire. A Glorious Dawning, Then Glowed the Sunlight of an Aurora of Progress and Prosperity."

The electric carnival was held for two days during the 1895 state fair to ensure the entire state knew. So many light bulbs outlined the state Capitol and filled Capitol Park trees that the light could be seen for 50 miles.

The highlight was a parade of sparkling floats on streetcars that glided on luminous downtown streets.

"They realized that the best way to celebrate it was during the state fair, because they could bring as many visitors as possible to witness this first transmission of electricity," said Martinez. "The Grand Electric Carnival was one big party. It was 48 hours of just craziness."

So many people came, that residents rented out beds in their homes, she added.

The Grand Electric Carnival has inspired a Carnival of Lights being held this year in two places: Old Sacramento, which will host a Theatre of Lights, and downtown, primarily at St. Rose of Lima Park at Seventh and K Streets. www.sacramentopress.com/headline/11032 The event will be expanded each year. The night parade is expected to be added in two years.

Floats in the original parade were sponsored by local companies. The modern-day electric night parade is expected to include sparkling horse-drawn carriages, business-sponsored floats and community residents.

"Anything's a possibility," Martinez said. "I think it's something everybody could get involved with."

Artifacts courtesy of the Sacramento Public Library's Sacramento Room. Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Carnival of Lights to shine downtown

2009-07-23T00:38:30Z

More than a century after the Grand Electric Carnival lit up the streets of downtown Sacramento, a new event called the Carnival of Lights will set downtown shimmering again for the 2009 holiday season.

The light carnival being arranged by the Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP) will mark the grand re-opening of St. Rose of Lima Park and the 700 block of Seventh Street. Both are currently undergoing renovations that are expected to be finished one week before Thanksgiving.

The Carnival of Lights will make the intersection of Seventh and K streets glow starting on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The event is timed to coincide with the Christmas Tree lighting held at the entrance to Westfield Downtown Plaza.

The carnival, which will run daily through Jan. 3, will replace the ice-skating rink at that location, but only this year, said DSP Director of Marketing Lisa Martinez.

"While we won't have ice, we're trying to create that same magical atmosphere downtown," she said. "The carnival will be a festive environment."

Festivities and holiday lights are also in the works for Midtown. In just one possible development, Midtown Business Association Executive Director Rob Kerth, a member of the family that built and still owns Iceland Skating Rink, is working with the downtown partnership to possibly build the ice-skating rink on a Midtown lot this year.

The ice-skating rink in St. Rose of Lima Park is named for his dad, William John Kerth. The plan will depend on what kind of financial support can be raised for an outdoor holiday rink, which has become a winter tradition for some Sacramentans.

The park's rink, which has operated for 18 years, won't be built this year because the renovation will still be underway in late October. That's when rink construction must start in time for the usual start date on the first Friday in November. Peak skating season for the rink is Thanksgiving through Christmas.

Crews need two weeks of cool, dry weather to build the rink, lay insulation, install coolant-filled pipes and spray the surface with layers of water that will turn into ice, she said.

Starting the week before Thanksgiving means the park's traditional two-and-a-half-month skating season would be shortened by a month. The rink wouldn't be ready in time for the tree lighting. And the cost to build, maintain and dismantle the rink is high.

"It's a significant expense," she said. "As difficult of a choice as it was to not do the ice rink, we're committed to doing it in the future."

This year's Carnival of Lights was inspired by the Grand Electric Carnival. In September 1895, downtown Sacramento was illuminated for the Grand Electric Carnival, which feted the first historic power transmission from the Folsom power house to Sacramento. The power system was built to supply electricity to the city's electric streetcars, businesses and industrial works.

During the electric carnival, so many light bulbs outlined the state Capitol and filled Capitol Park trees that the light could be seen for 50 miles. That night, a parade of sparkling floats carried on streetcars glided down the luminous streets. The spectacle was so festive that Walt Disney Co. later modeled its Electric Light Parade after Sacramento's electric carnival parade.

This year, the goal of the lights carnival is to show off the new public space and to link K Street Mall to other parts of downtown -- and to help drive people to local businesses -- during the holiday season.

"People forget how walkable downtown Sacramento is and how beautiful the architecture is," said Martinez.

The carnival will feature rides including a 30-foot ferris wheel, tents with carnival and video games, activities and visits from Santa Claus.

For the first time, the downtown partnership is developing plans to light up other parts of downtown for the holidays. They're working with property owners, including the city, to get holiday lights installed on buildings and may put up twinkling, energy-efficient LED lights on K, J and L streets. This year's efforts will be continued and built upon in coming years, she said.

"We wanted to create something that would drive people downtown to see what it (the park) looks like and see what it's all about," said Martinez. "With the Grand Electric Carnival, they were celebrating the transmission of power. We're just celebrating the historic qualities of downtown."

Photos courtesy of the Sacramento Public Library's Sacramento Room.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. She can be reached at 916-804-2856 or suzanne@sacramentopress.com.