Suva Hibiscus Carnival
20/08/2010 - 28/08/2010
Place of event: Suva
It was indeed a challenge. The Fiji of 1956 was not Hawaii! It was a stiff, stuffy, white-starched British colony- prim and proper, not really ready for any public expression of "fun". The very idea was enough to have the expatriate civil servants and business leaders snort with distaste over their gins and tonics.
But the young Jaycees were determined that Suva should have at least one day of relaxation when perhaps colourful ‘Bula' shirts should replace the standard white drill of everyday. The more difficulties were placed in their way, the more determined they became. This is where the Suva Hibiscus began.
In 1956, Saturday was still a ½ working day and neither Government nor Private business was prepared to release their staff. Sponsorship was impossible. The Colonial Secretary would not permit workers to replace their shirts with coloured ones and although young ladies of Suva were invited to enter a ‘Ms Hibiscus' contest, the only prize that could be offered to ‘Miss Hibiscus' was a trip to Lautoka and back by bus!
The road was rough and dusty but Whites Travel Service operated the bus and it had real glass windows! As it happened, this price eventually went to the 2nd place getter- a Whites Travel hostess who suffered this bone-rattling ordeal everyday.
Despite these difficulties, the fledgling "Hibiscus Festival" was born. A date was fixed (Dec 15, 1956) and a puzzled public waited to see what was about to be thrust upon the City of Suva. Not everyone was apprehensive. Pan American Airlines could see the future that this little event might hold and thrilled the Jaycees with the unheard offer of a flight to Sydney for ‘Miss Hibiscus' and suddenly the test became almost acceptable.
An infuriated airline just around the corner in the old wooden Central Building (now the CML Bldg) rushed around the place quoting on IATA prohibition of such a prize and denouncing Panam for its lack of ethics.
But the contest went ahead, the prize was won and this prize and of course the lovely winner, proved so popular that the "infuriated" airline was the 1st to offer an even more exciting trip in the event of there being a Hibiscus Festival in 1957!
The First Hibiscus
It was small. Apart from crudely hand-made posters and some radio advertising, there was not too much publicity about it. Many people in Suva were not aware of it because the whole Festival was contained within the Town Hall- now Ming Palace. Suva Rotary Club had offered to operate a few stalls inside the hall, there were some musical entertainment and that was that!
Theses stalls operated on Friday night but the serious business commenced after midday on the Saturday.
More than 20 young ladies vying for Miss Hibiscus title. As happened every year, since there was a ‘public judging' curtains were closed and a panel of judges mixed with the contestants discussing the same topics that be raised in 1995- current affairs, knowledge of Fiji and particularly of Suva, general knowledge and all the topics that Suva's ambassadress should be able to discuss.
By this time, the hall was packed, more than to capacity with an excited and impatient crowd- swelled by the presence of the crew of an Italian Navy vessel who must surely have wondered just what they had struck! The police had tried to lock the doors of the Hall but no avail- the entrances were jammed with the people.
We have mentioned that government workers were not permitted to wear coloured shirts on the Saturday morning. Well some of them decided to defy this prohibition and o the Friday they were delighted when the Governor of Fiji himself Sir Ronald Garvey arrived at Town Hall in a brilliant red "Bula" shirt and with his colonial white pith helmet spray-painted silver and with the word "BULA" emblazoned on it.
It is understood that he unofficially gave permission for coloured shirts to be worn next morning. If the Governor's shirt was red, the faces of his senior civil servants were even redder as the Directors of Health, Public Works, Education and so on went scurrying among the small shops in search of "Bula" shirts! The Suva Hibiscus Festival had certainly arrived.
So successful was the first Festival that by 1957 it had become a 3day event and there were 38 contestants vying for the crown and a trip to Honolulu. The years rolled by and the Hibiscus Festival became a long affair- a very important week in Suva's calendar.
The week of fun went from success to success. It became too big for the Junior Chamber and was handed over to a Hibiscus Festival Association. Songs were written t o serenade ‘Ms Hibiscus', the Festival and the flower itself; 1 year the post office issued special stamps to mark the occasion; cruise ships re-arranged their schedules to accommodate the Festival.
But after 30 years, the Festival had acquired a certain ‘sameness'- a sense of boredom threatened to kill the fun and in the mid 1980s, the Association had to announce that there would be no Festival that year.
The Lord Mayor of Suva could not accept this and called a public meeting to try to inject a new life into the Festival. The Association, although tried, still had enough energy to oppose this move to insist that they still owned the registered name of ‘Hibiscus Festival' and the ‘Suva Hibiscus Carnival' was born and like some phoenix continues on the same path of success.
Early Years
During early years of the Festival, it was realized that with so much goodwill, about some of it should be channeled into a worthwhile cause and the ‘Hibiscus Charity Chest' was formed and an additional prize was made available for ‘Miss Charity', the contestant who raised the largest amount of money for charity and over the years thousands of dollars have been raised for distribution among the less fortunate in our midst.
But the young Jaycees were determined that Suva should have at least one day of relaxation when perhaps colourful ‘Bula' shirts should replace the standard white drill of everyday. The more difficulties were placed in their way, the more determined they became. This is where the Suva Hibiscus began.
In 1956, Saturday was still a ½ working day and neither Government nor Private business was prepared to release their staff. Sponsorship was impossible. The Colonial Secretary would not permit workers to replace their shirts with coloured ones and although young ladies of Suva were invited to enter a ‘Ms Hibiscus' contest, the only prize that could be offered to ‘Miss Hibiscus' was a trip to Lautoka and back by bus!
The road was rough and dusty but Whites Travel Service operated the bus and it had real glass windows! As it happened, this price eventually went to the 2nd place getter- a Whites Travel hostess who suffered this bone-rattling ordeal everyday.
Despite these difficulties, the fledgling "Hibiscus Festival" was born. A date was fixed (Dec 15, 1956) and a puzzled public waited to see what was about to be thrust upon the City of Suva. Not everyone was apprehensive. Pan American Airlines could see the future that this little event might hold and thrilled the Jaycees with the unheard offer of a flight to Sydney for ‘Miss Hibiscus' and suddenly the test became almost acceptable.
An infuriated airline just around the corner in the old wooden Central Building (now the CML Bldg) rushed around the place quoting on IATA prohibition of such a prize and denouncing Panam for its lack of ethics.
But the contest went ahead, the prize was won and this prize and of course the lovely winner, proved so popular that the "infuriated" airline was the 1st to offer an even more exciting trip in the event of there being a Hibiscus Festival in 1957!
The First Hibiscus
It was small. Apart from crudely hand-made posters and some radio advertising, there was not too much publicity about it. Many people in Suva were not aware of it because the whole Festival was contained within the Town Hall- now Ming Palace. Suva Rotary Club had offered to operate a few stalls inside the hall, there were some musical entertainment and that was that!
Theses stalls operated on Friday night but the serious business commenced after midday on the Saturday.
More than 20 young ladies vying for Miss Hibiscus title. As happened every year, since there was a ‘public judging' curtains were closed and a panel of judges mixed with the contestants discussing the same topics that be raised in 1995- current affairs, knowledge of Fiji and particularly of Suva, general knowledge and all the topics that Suva's ambassadress should be able to discuss.
By this time, the hall was packed, more than to capacity with an excited and impatient crowd- swelled by the presence of the crew of an Italian Navy vessel who must surely have wondered just what they had struck! The police had tried to lock the doors of the Hall but no avail- the entrances were jammed with the people.
We have mentioned that government workers were not permitted to wear coloured shirts on the Saturday morning. Well some of them decided to defy this prohibition and o the Friday they were delighted when the Governor of Fiji himself Sir Ronald Garvey arrived at Town Hall in a brilliant red "Bula" shirt and with his colonial white pith helmet spray-painted silver and with the word "BULA" emblazoned on it.
It is understood that he unofficially gave permission for coloured shirts to be worn next morning. If the Governor's shirt was red, the faces of his senior civil servants were even redder as the Directors of Health, Public Works, Education and so on went scurrying among the small shops in search of "Bula" shirts! The Suva Hibiscus Festival had certainly arrived.
So successful was the first Festival that by 1957 it had become a 3day event and there were 38 contestants vying for the crown and a trip to Honolulu. The years rolled by and the Hibiscus Festival became a long affair- a very important week in Suva's calendar.
The week of fun went from success to success. It became too big for the Junior Chamber and was handed over to a Hibiscus Festival Association. Songs were written t o serenade ‘Ms Hibiscus', the Festival and the flower itself; 1 year the post office issued special stamps to mark the occasion; cruise ships re-arranged their schedules to accommodate the Festival.
But after 30 years, the Festival had acquired a certain ‘sameness'- a sense of boredom threatened to kill the fun and in the mid 1980s, the Association had to announce that there would be no Festival that year.
The Lord Mayor of Suva could not accept this and called a public meeting to try to inject a new life into the Festival. The Association, although tried, still had enough energy to oppose this move to insist that they still owned the registered name of ‘Hibiscus Festival' and the ‘Suva Hibiscus Carnival' was born and like some phoenix continues on the same path of success.
Early Years
During early years of the Festival, it was realized that with so much goodwill, about some of it should be channeled into a worthwhile cause and the ‘Hibiscus Charity Chest' was formed and an additional prize was made available for ‘Miss Charity', the contestant who raised the largest amount of money for charity and over the years thousands of dollars have been raised for distribution among the less fortunate in our midst.
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