Costumed figures of Umbrella Man and the Duck, Golden Potlatch, Seattle, ca. 1913

• Main Author: Nowell, Frank H.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Costumes; Potlatch (Festival) (Seattle; Wash.); Umbrellas; Haas; Teddy F.; Wescott; Roy; Yukon; Pacific; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/imlsmohai/id/5644

The Golden Potlatch was a city-wide festival held in July, organized by civic boosters hoping to capitalize on the success of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The first Golden Potlatch opened in July 1911; the event continued for each of the next three summers before being suspended during wartime. The name reflects the importance of the Klondike gold rush to Seattle and borrows a Chinook jargon term for a gift-giving ceremony. The boosters also used Chinook jargon to call themselves the Tillikums (friend) of Elttaes, (Seattle spelled backward). Thousands of people enjoyed the week-long carnival of parades, aircraft demonstrations and concerts. In this photo, Seattleites Teddy F. Haas (left) and Roy Wescott (right) pose in the costumes they wore for the Dad's Day parade. The two dressed as Umbrella Man and the Duck, from a popular Seattle Times newspaper cartoon, based on the real-life Seattle "Umbrella Man" Robert Patton, in which the characters offer folk wit and weather forecasts on the front page. Embossed on front of print: Frank H. Nowell, U.S.A. Photo from album with "Tillikums of Elttaes" embossed on the cover. Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, July 19, 1914; p.8 and HistoryLink.org. 1 photographic print: b&w; 7 5/8 x 9 5/8 in.