SANTA CALI GON DAYS

The first Santa-Cali-Gon Days Festival was held in 1940. The festival was originally designed to celebrate the rich frontier history that Independence possessed. Local men grew beards for the occasion, while women dressed in 1800s clothing. The “Queen City of the Trails” commemorated the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails, all of which passed through Independence during the 1800s.

A second celebration was held after World War II in 1947. The event would not be held again until 1973. The 1973 festival, called Three Trails Days, was held on the Historic Independence Square, a site chosen to exhibit results of the Square’s Urban Renewal project.

The 1973 festival hosted about 50,000 attendees. In 1974 the festival was renamed Santa-Cali-Gon Days, a name originally penned by Velma Katschkowsky in a 1940 contest to name the festival.

The 1974 festival was bigger and better than the Three Trails Days, with almost three times as many booth holders and more festivities devoted to the city’s pioneer past.

The festival featured a beard and mustache contest, the Miss Independence pageant and a pioneer costume contest. In 35 years the Santa-Cali-Gon Days Festival has evolved into one of the nation’s premier festivals, drawing more than 225,000 people each year. 

Santa Cali Gon Days