CARTHAGE, Mo. — For six decades, the Maple Leaf Festival has been a familiar sign that fall has arrived in Carthage.
There have been parades, contests, dances, food, music, costumes and plenty of maple leaves along the way. But as the festival celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, Carthage will also take time to remember the man whose idea helped start it all.
The Carthage Chamber of Commerce has named the late Robert S. Dale the honorary Grand Marshal of the 60th Annual Maple Leaf Festival. Dale’s daughters, Kathy Atwood, Julie Dale and Sue Neely, will accept the honor on their father’s behalf and participate in the Maple Leaf Parade on Saturday, Oct. 17.
Dale was born in Carthage on Nov. 23, 1917, and spent much of his life working to make his hometown a better place. A 1935 graduate of Carthage High School and the University of Missouri, he served in the Missouri Army National Guard during World War II, including assignments from the West Coast to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Over a 30-year military career, he rose to the rank of brigadier general.
But for generations of Carthaginians, his most lasting legacy may be found in the community itself.
After the war, Dale returned to Carthage and eventually served as editor and publisher of The Carthage Press until 1976. He became involved in a long list of community efforts, serving as president of the Carthage Chamber of Commerce, advocating for the restoration of the Kendrick House, helping establish Carthage Historic Preservation and later serving as president of the State Historical Society of Missouri.
He was also involved with the Carthage Public Library, Council on the Arts, YMCA, youth baseball and Boy Scouts, among many other community organizations and projects.
It started with an idea in a newspaper office
The Maple Leaf Festival itself began in Dale’s office at The Carthage Press.
In late 1966, Dale brought together a group of civic-minded Carthage residents to help plan a celebration of the city’s 125th anniversary. Among those involved were Helen Hill, Richard M. Webster, Dr. Oren Ralston, Robert Ellis Young, Ed C. Ulmer Jr., Dr. Emil Oexman and Marvin VanGilder.
The group eventually decided to combine the celebration with the Four-State Invitational Band Festival, bringing visiting high school bands into the heart of the festivities. The result was a parade that became the largest in Carthage history at the time.
And the celebration was about much more than a parade.
The first festival filled an entire week with dances, variety shows, a vintage costume contest, a Belle Starr Day saloon hosted by the Lions Club and a performance by Marching Mizzou. There was even a community-wide effort encouraging residents to admire the brilliant October color of Carthage’s hard maple trees.
The first festival was such a success that organizers decided it should become an annual tradition, with the Chamber of Commerce taking over as sponsor. Dale became the festival’s first chairman.
A tradition built by a community
Julie Reams, president of the Carthage Chamber of Commerce, said Dale understood that the real strength of the festival came from bringing people together.
“Robert Dale saw something special in Carthage, and he knew that when neighbors come together to celebrate, a community grows stronger,” Reams said. “Sixty years ago, he and a small group of dedicated leaders started something that has become a cherished part of who we are.”
For Dale’s family, the anniversary is an opportunity to see his vision come full circle.
“Dad loved a good party, but more than that, he loved Carthage,” said Sue Neely, Dale’s daughter. “He treasured the years he spent working alongside the Maple Leaf Festival volunteers and always said the festival belonged to everyone who helped build it.”
Neely said knowing the festival is still bringing people together 60 years later would have meant a great deal to her father.
“To know that what they started together is still bringing people joy 60 years later would have meant the world to him,” she said. “Our family is so honored and so grateful to the Chamber and to this community for remembering him this way.”
That idea of a community tradition being built by many hands remains central to the Maple Leaf Festival today. The Chamber notes that countless volunteers, sponsors, businesses and families have helped shape it over six decades.
This year’s festival will continue that tradition with events including the BBQ Cook-Off, Chili Cook-Off, Taco Tuesday, Dog Show and Races, Baby/Toddler Show, Queen Pageants and Touch-a-Truck. The Light Up the Maple Leaf lighting contest also returns, echoing the original festival’s celebration of Carthage’s fall color.
And, fittingly for an anniversary honoring one of the people who started it all, the story will come back around on Oct. 17, when Dale’s family rides in the Maple Leaf Parade as the community honors the man who helped give Carthage one of its most enduring traditions.
