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Mary Davis recognized last week’s century-old image of the Fort Dalles Frolics, an annual city-wide, three-day event hosted by the American Legion here  in the 1920s. That image was from the second Frolic, in 1926. Davis identified it as an image of the Umatilla House bus, entered in the parade, being used as transportation to the Civic Auditorium or “Civic House” as the main venue of the celebration was called when newly constructed. The bus can be seen today at the Fort Dalles Museum.

The small black-and-white print was scanned from a deteriorating album donated to Columbia Gorge Discovery Center by Jim Gray.  Other images from the album showed parades, picnics, and racist performances by people in blackface, which unfortunately seem to have been a major part of the event.

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