On October 4, 1938 Crowley, Louisiana, celebrated the town’s golden jubilee with a Rice Festival. Dreamt up by Louisiana governor Richard Leche and / or Harry D. Wilson, commissioner of agriculture and immigration (competing version attribute the event to either man), the Rice Festival would promote local agriculture, pack in the crowds (over 35,000 visitors swelled a town of under 10,000 souls), deliver the inaugural Rice Queen and restore an event that had lapsed since its first outing in 1927. Farm Security Administration photographer Russell Lee was there to record the rice-themed fun for everyone to see.
The Rice Queen
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