Bloomer Parade
July 11 at 11:00 a.m.
Parade route begins at 5th and Main and proceeds east on Main Street to Coiner Park
It’s hard to imagine in this modern era, where individuals’ creative expression rules current fashion, that just over a century ago it was socially taboo for Victorian era women to wear pants.
Imagine how uncomfortable and awkward it was wearing hoop skirts and yards of fabric to go motoring or cycling, play sports, or do gardening and other daily chores. Add to that misery, a federal law which prohibited women from fully engaging in the country’s public policy making process by denying them the right to vote.
No wonder women formed the Rational Dress Society in 1881 and championed the need for practical fashions. Then in 1920, after years of public protests from coast to coast, American women were finally given the right to vote.
On July 11, as part of Bohemia Mining Days’ 50th Anniversary celebration, the Third Annual Bloomer Parade begins at 11 a.m. on the corner of 5th and Main Street. Staging is at 10:30 am in park behind City Hall 5th & Main. The parade follows Main Street east where it ends in Coiner Park’s Bohemia City.
According to Festival coordinators, the event provides an opportunity to recreate a women’s suffrage parade of bloomer-clad females carrying hand-lettered signs demanding the right to vote and calling for greater equality between men and women in all areas of society. Locally, bloomers are available for purchase at Victoriana and the Bohemia Gold Mining Museum in the Downtown Historic District.
Bloomer Exchange Party (Video Invitation courtesy of LCC-CG Video Production Class)
I love being a part of the bloomer parade! We come up with great ideas each year and it has become a family tradition!
The parade is something that I look forward to each year it’s just a darn tootin good time!!!!!
The Bloomer Parade is one of my favorite “newer” BMD events. Celebrating the right to vote and to wear pants — Whoo Hoo! I hope we’ll have a BIG turnout of bloomer-clad ladies this Saturday morning!