The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven

For a generation of Kingstree residents, one of the dates embedded in their memories was June 10, 1941–the day Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians came to town.

Guy Lombardo with members of the Royal Canadians.

In 1940, the Kingstree Jaycees had introduced a new event to Kingstree called the Pre-Harvest Jubilee. That year, Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra had played to a crowd of approximately 4,500 people. The club decided to go bigger and better in 1941, inviting Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians to bring the "sweetest music this side of heaven" to Kingstree." 

A major part of the jubilee was crowning the Jubilee Queen. Young ladies from throughout South Carolina were asked to participate. Kingstree's entry in this contest was Virginia Gourdin, who would also serve as hostess to the other contestants. Her court was composed of Mary Burgess, Johnnie Sue Brown, Ethelena Vause, Selma Gilland, and Mary Sue Britton.

Three of the Lombardo brothers, Carmen, Victor, and Lebert, judged the contest with Maestro Guy Lombardo to crown the winner. Twenty-seven young ladies participated, coming from Charleston, Columbia, McClellanville, Myrtle Beach, McColl, Dillon, Summerville, Timmonsville, Bishopville, Sumter, Holly Hill, St. Stephens, Orangeburg, Mullins, Marion, Newberry, Georgetown, Cheraw, Conway, Lake City, Florence, Lynchburg and Manning. Girls representing Greeleyville and Lane served as hostesses but did not compete in the contest. Some of the contestants represented their towns; others were sponsored by businesses.

For the first time in Kingstree's history, there would be a big parade with floats from other areas as well as locally sponsored units. The Kingstree High School Band and the grammar school drum and bugle corps would be joined by the Sumter and Lancaster High School Bands in the parade. At 11:30 on the morning of June 10, the Lancaster band gave a concert on the courthouse square, as the beauty contestants arrived at the Hotel Carolina across the street from the courthouse for a chicken dinner with Mayor Pro Tem Guy McIntosh. He was filling in for Mayor Thomas Gilland, who was traveling out of state that day, but who sent a telegram welcoming the visitors to Kingstree. The Sumter Band played at the coronation of the Jubilee Queen, as well as marched in the parade. The Jaycees treated both visiting bands to a BBQ dinner at the American Legion Hut.

Card announcing the Pre-Harvest Jubilee of 1941.

The parade started at 4:30 at the high school athletic field on Third Avenue and proceeded to the courthouse, where first, Virginia Gourdin, was crowned Miss Kingstree before the selection of the Jubilee Queen began. Floats representing the Kingstree Kiwanis Club, the Kingstree Jaycees, Home Furnishings of Sumter, Mello-Krust of Orangeburg, the City of Sumter, the Town of Lynchburg, and Boyle Construction of Sumter all participated in the parade. Local children also decorated their bicycles and rode them in the parade. A $5 prize was given for the best-decorated bike. The parade covered five blocks in length as it moved through Kingstree.

From The State, June 12, 1941

The Columbia Record of June 11, 1941, noted, "Against the historic background of the Williamsburg County Courthouse, Miss Lucy Barringer, representing the Boyle Motor Company of Sumter, was crowned queen of the second annual pre-harvest jubilee here Tuesday by Guy Lombardo, while an estimated crowd of 6,000 packed every available inch of the business block on which the platform was arranged."

Coca Cola of Sumter was awarded first place for its parade float. McBride McFadden was master of ceremonies for the events at the courthouse. Evans Guyton chaired the Queen's committee and was responsible, along with his assistants Carrie Douglass and Myrtle Frierson, for finding lodging at various homes in Kingstree for the contestants. This arrangement freed up hotel and boarding house rooms for visitors who came to town for the ball, which started at 10 p.m. and lasted until 2 the next morning.

Because Lombardo and the Royal Canadians played so infrequently in South Carolina, many people drove for hours to attend the ball. Hotels and boarding houses were filled to capacity the night of the event. An estimated 5,000 were in attendance at the Carolina Warehouse for the performance, although many of them arrived soaking wet as a fierce rainstorm came up just as the ball was beginning. Visibility was bad enough that two car loads of people from Columbia headed to Kingstree were involved in an accident. Leading national publications requested information and photos from the pre-harvest jubilee ball.

Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians left many warm friends and admirers in the Royal Town when they departed the next day. Members of the orchestra had been most obliging in signing autographs during their 24 hours in Kingstree.

Jaycee President Steve Montgomery was pleased with the outcome of the event and promised that 1942's pre-harvest jubilee would be even bigger and better. At that time, he wasn't counting on Japan bombing Pearl Harbor just a few months in the future, and by summer 1942, Kingstree residents were involved in the war effort and, as a result, there was no pre-harvest jubilee in 1942 or thereafter.