The Gay Nineties:
Preserving and Reflecting on Forest Grove’s History as Ballad Town, U.S.A.

Dozens of horses, buggies, and Ford Model Ts driving down the road, women wearing puff sleeves and floor-length skirts at local cafés, can-can shows at the auditorium, men sporting handlebar mustaches, and mellow strains of four-part harmony galore: This was Forest Grove not during the turn of the 20th century, but in the middle of it. The Gay Nineties was an annual festival here in town that ran for one weekend each spring from 1947 through the 1990s, centered around a theme of nostalgia for the 1890s decade. The festival featured a grand parade downtown, educational activities for students, elaborate window displays, a theatrical revue show, and the crown jewel of the event which started it all, the Original All-Northwest Barbershop Ballad Contest. The contest was broadcast on national radio and television to millions of viewers, earning Forest Grove the nickname “Ballad Town, U.S.A.”

This phenomenon of nostalgia for the turn of the century was not unique to Forest Grove. After World War II, Americans began looking back to this decade as the last hurrah of innocence and peace before the destructive technology of two world wars. The term “Gay Nineties” was first coined by a Life magazine artist in the 1920s, using the old meaning of “gay,” meaning cheerful and carefree.

At the height of the festival’s popularity, seemingly everyone in town participated. Cafés offered free sundaes to visiting quartets. Schoolchildren wore homemade Gay Nineties swimsuits, many of which were donated to the schools to ensure every child could take part. Individual house parties and dances popped up, creating a non-stop atmosphere of costumed fanfare and fun from dawn until dusk. Young and old, rich and poor, all were welcome.

As a history major, I worried that the memory of the Gay Nineties celebrations, central to the town’s identity for half a century, was disappearing. Standing at 73 feet in Lincoln Park next to Pacific University’s Hanson Stadium, the World’s Tallest Barber Pole is a stark remnant of Forest Grove’s barbershop music history. Though a distinctive landmark, I observed how many younger generations assume it to be a tribute to the art of haircutting. With support from a Pacific University summer undergraduate research grant, I embarked on an oral history project, conducting interviews with various members of the local community. These interviews will be digitized on Washington County Heritage Online, a collaborative digital archive partnered with Pacific University and Friends of Historic Forest Grove.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing longtime resident and Pacific alumna Carol Drew at her home in late June. Her memories were clear and affectionate for the era, but also tinged with sadness for what has been lost. “It represented the age of the town,” she recalled. “The town was old, and somebody… said, let’s celebrate our age. Let’s put it out there and tell people it’s a great little town that started back when and make it known.”

The festival gradually declined over the years, as nostalgia for the 1890s faded, small local businesses became less involved, and the weight of organizing the festival fell on fewer and fewer shoulders.

“It’s a small town that kind of begins to lose its identity as shops leave and lots of new people moving in now with our new developments going up everywhere. … I still think we need to celebrate our past some way,” Carol stated. “There’s always lessons when a community comes together to build something, and we’re not doing that right now. We need to bring people together to do something… the lesson that would be learned, would be, what are we doing? What’s our identification here in town? Who are we?” Carol’s observations align with historians who have noted since the 1960s that Americans have become increasingly disengaged from their neighbors, civic institutions, and local communities. The rise of consumer culture, suburbanization, new technology, and mass media have all contributed to this decline.

Forest Grove’s annual Gay Nineties festival first took place at the dawn of the Atomic Age, a time of profound change and anxiety. As we now head into this new era of artificial intelligence marked by digital distraction and isolation, the Gay Nineties offers us a lesson. Genuine human interactions, shared traditions, and active participation in our community are what bring us together: not screens and algorithms. The festival used nostalgia not just as an escape, but as a joyful, collective act that strengthened our community. With this project, I hope to highlight how our town has looked back at our past to find connections in the present. As Carol Drew explains, “It only takes two or three people with a great idea to do something and get it done.”