Page 66 - Tropic Magazine Issue 31

TROPIC • REGIONAL HISTORY

Fun in the Sun

FESTIVAL FRIVOLITY
With competitions featuring
live crocodiles and coconut
husking, the Cairns Fun in 1
the Sun festival was a true
tropical trip. Back then, the festival ran over two weeks 1. 1974 parade. Credit: Tom Collis
and three weekends and also included 2. 1964 crocodile race. Credit: ABC
Words: Renee Cluff sailing, game fishing, coconut husking, 3. The 1972 program
Before the current Cairns Festival, there an art show, lots of live music and a Miss
was Fun in the Sun, an event that ran Cairns contest. Local Kay Hilder was
from the early 60s through to the 90s. named the first Miss Cairns.
The first festival in 1962 was held to But what truly set Fun in the Sun apart Did you know...
celebrate the opening of the Green Island from its equivalent of today was the live
jetty and was such a success, local leaders crocodile racing, in which reptiles of all Einstein Events tried to
decided to make it an annual event to sizes were chased by participants down a reinvigorate the Fun in the Sun
extend the peak tourism season. tennis court to win the Cairns Cup. Festival in 2015 but struggled to
Much like today, there was a procession “The crocodiles are all numbered for the meet council approvals.
of floats promoting local businesses event,” the promo video said. “Some are
and organisations. According to a 1965 caught locally and others are borrowed
promotional video, the parade lasted a from the local wildlife sanctuary.”
couple of hours with more than 140 floats
involved, most featuring bikini-clad
women. A caravan of elephants
even took part in 1964 alongside local The biggest is a six-footer
children showing off bicycles they’d and the smallest four-and-
fastidiously decorated.
a-half inches

The event was abandoned sometime in
the 1970s, heralding an end to the free-
wheeling 60s. The festival itself would
see another couple of decades before its
name was changed in the early 1990s.
It became known as the Reef Festival to
celebrate and promote Cairns’ access to
the Great Barrier Reef. In 2002 another
name change spawned the Cairns Festival
2 we know today. 3

66 • Tropic • Issue 31