Omaha daily bee., 1916-10-08
As Curtain Drops Hundred
Thousand Mark Is Surpassed
at Carnival Grounds.
FINAL NIGHT CROWD GOOD
CARNIVAL ATTENDANCE.

The great Ak-Sar-Ben carnival,
festival, jubilee and everything OF
1916 has gone into history.
Last week was one continual pro-
cession of glories. The industrial
parade came first. 1t was excellent.
Then came the electrical parade
Wednesday evening. 1t measured up
tolhe high standard of the electrical
parades of previous years.
And then came Thursday, perhaps
the greatest day Omaha has seen. The
historical parade passed through the
streets crowded with people, headed
by President Woodrow Wilson and
Mrs, Wilson. II was reviewed by the
President and Mrs. Wilson from the
reviewing stand in front of the court
house.
There was dinner to the presi-
dent and an address by him at the
Auditorium.
Then, Friday night, came the IN
augural ball which was a scene of
splendor surprising all previous balls.
The ca--:val grounds closed also
last night with a total attendance ap-
proximating ll2Q00. The attendance
without including the last day was
l03,65l, comparing we'll with o8,30S
for the same period last year.
King Ak-Sar-Ben XXI and his
queen have been crowned. Long live
the king and queen.
Big Jubilee Closes.
Last night saw the end OF the most
successful Ak-Sar-Ben carnival in
history For the finale, an uproarious
crew was on hand, and the, way they
made thiags hum was a caution. ~
Confetti was never dispensed with
such abandon. and in fact no crowd
has disported itself so freely and with
so much vim as did the final tllrong
Of 1916. King Ak, this year, saw the
high water mark in every festivity.
Success was the keynote on every
hand. The jubilee grounds were sit
uated most conveniently the attrac-
tions were much better than in years
gone by, and the general efficiency OF
the carnival staff was markedly evi.
dent.
Spirit Of the Throng.
What was it that kept the crowds
walking around and around tho
jubilee grounds on their poor ould
feet as we'll known English come
dienne would say?
Many. didn't make the shows. Still
night after night scores of the same
faces were on the beat, apparently tir-
ing not of completing the circuit with
those to whom the attractions were
new.
Ask one person and see il you get
a real explanatory answer. But there
was an answer, and one that has made
Ak-Sar-Ben the success it has always
been.
1t was the spirit of the throns, or
more aptly the good spirit OF the
crowd that did it.
Whether the untiring pedestrian be
a farmer, city man, woman or child.
it was all the same.
Good Humor Abounds.
Good humor and good fellowship
attracted each one alike, no mater
what their walk in life might be. Fun
oozed about the enclosure in such
quantity and quality that a visitor
absorbed it whether he payed in cash
or not.
That was the secret. Say what Won
will, it cannot be denied. Had YOU
fingered near the gate and trailcd
some sour visaged individual through
the portals, then continued the scent
while he made the round trip, saw
once, or even twice, you would have
seen his countenance, brighten.
On the same site that Billy SUM-
day shouted his message OF good
cheer, Brighten the Corner Where
You Are" the masses did just that
thing. ''S