I just returned from a cruise with my daughter Amy to, among other places, Panama, where I heard many fascinating stories while traveling through the Panama Canal (truthfully, only half of it). I attended lectures and went on guided tours. Inevitably, each Panama Canal guide illustrated his version of the story with the now-famous 1906 photo of President Theodore Roosevelt visiting the construction site wearing a Panama hat. I learned that the hat was not made in Panama, as its name would suggest, but had been imported from Ecuador, made from the straw of the toquilla palm. Panama hats are still made in Ecuador, but they are sold in scores on the streets of Panama City as “Panama hats.”
Regardless of its true origin, by the 1920’s the Panama hat had become a staple in any respectable man’s summer wardrobe, and cities began to mark the arrival of summer by declaring a “Straw Hat Day,” usually celebrated on May 15. As autumn approached, the straw hat became disdainful…passe. “Felt Hat Day” was then celebrated on September 15, at least in New York City, and no respectable man failed to sport a felt hat until the next spring arrived. One variation of the tradition held that when Wall Street closed on September 14 of each year, the members tossed their straw hats on the floor and crushed them. The next day, they all wore felt hats.
In 1922, an event known as the Straw Hat Riot took place in New York City on September 13, as crowds of rowdy troublemakers pulled straw hats from the heads of businessmen on the streets and crushed them underfoot. It’s not clear how the Straw Hat Riot began, or why.
In light of all of this hat history, readers of “Postcards” might be interested in an article printed in the April 21, 1926 edition of the “Fallon Standard,” announcing that “For the first time in history, Fallon is to observe Straw Hat Day…. No longer will Fallon be kidded as the only village in the United States where they don’t know winter is over…. Judge E.E. Winters, district attorney, started the movement for Straw Hat Day in Fallon. The judge appeared two weeks ago in spring head-dress—even before some local merchants had them in stock. Moral support was offered by a few others…. And thereafter, when the immaculate straw-hatted stranger arrives within the city limits of Fallon, he will no longer be qualified to return to his hometown and say, ’ Whaddyuno about Fallon? Believe me or not, but them birds is still a wearin’ their last winter felts! They think it’s November. They dunno the war’s over yet.’”
Mayor Tedford [Jack Tedford, Sr.] formally proclaimed May 1 as “Straw Hat Day” in Fallon, telling the newspaper, “Throughout the United States, cities and villages are having their Straw Hat Days…. Therefore, as Mayor of Fallon, I am interested in Straw Hat Day because it calls attention to the delightful climate we enjoy throughout the year in our growing city….”
The following week’s edition of the “Fallon Standard” featured ads for straw hats from three vendors. Grey, Reid & Co. ran a large ad under the banner “It’s Straw Hat Time in Fallon.” Swiss Straws cost $4 and $6; Fedoras, $1.75, and Fancy Straws, $2.50 and $4. A dry goods store named “The Army Store of Fallon,” advertised, yes, a choice selection of Panama hats, and the Eldredge and Hursh store ad proclaimed, “Look at your hat—everyone else does. Here they are--Straws for all faces and finances.”
The “Standard” capped it all off with an article warning its male readers: “Saturday is proclaimed Straw Hat Day by the Mayor. If you go blundering down the street Saturday topped off with the old, weather beaten, dirt spotted felt, not only will you violate the wishes of His Majesty, but literally you will be as conspicuous as a fellow in full dress at a ball game.”
Call me old-fashioned, but I savor vintage news reporting with its tongue-in-cheek tone and corny turns of phrase. And, I have always loved a Panama hat.
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