By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
Oct. 20, 2010

In the late 1880s, Kansas City was awash with excitement that it, too, would soon have its own Harvest Festival.

An up-and-coming group of Kansas Citians had started what would last almost 40 years in its first incarnation. The Priests of Pallas festival had been born. The first year, organizers put on a great parade. President Grover Cleveland and his young bride attended the first P.O.P. festivities and viewed from their place of honor on a second-floor balcony of the Coates House Hotel as magnificent floats accompanied by torch-bearing members of the Flambeau Club march along Broadway.

The theme changed annually after the first two years. The theme for 1887 and 1888 was “Grecian Myths.” In 1910, the theme was aerial transportation. In 1909, the theme was, “A Trip To Mars.”

Souvenirs of every shape and size were created to commemorate the festival, including private mailing cards, later to be known simply as postcards.

The festival died out in the early 1920s for lack of interest. The wide-open style of Kansas City at the time meant a festival in the nature of P.O.P. could be found in most every speakeasy throughout the city. A civic group attempted a resurrection in 1928, but the festival just didn’t draw the interest it once did.

Today, some 80-plus years later, a group of like-minded citizens have resurrected the Priests of Pallas theme and are planning a huge festival ball in Union Station this weekend. The event is in its second year, and the promoter’s website promises a “stunning range of artistry and exhilarating live entertainment.”

This card, titled “Pallas,” has never been mailed. It is said the 1910 set of cards is the rarest of the P.O.P postcard sets.