‘A turning point in the civic and cultural history of the state of Oregon,” is how a proclamation celebrating the opening of the Seaside Prom read in 1921.

One hundred years later, the city will again celebrate the Prom with a parade and celebration on Saturday as part of a yearlong celebration of the North Coast icon’s monumental birthday.

The city issued and unanimously endorsed a proclamation celebrating the Prom in July. Seaside Public Library’s exhibit “The Prom in Pictures,” is on display and will head to the Seaside Museum & Historical Society in late August.

The parade kicks off Saturday at 10 a.m. near City Hall, the historic location of Seaside’s train station, and then proceeds west down Broadway to the Turnaround. The public is invited to gather on the beach facing the Turnaround, which will serve as a stage for the ceremony. The Royal Rosarians, Portland’s official ambassadors of goodwill, were present at the 1921 dedication and will return to Seaside to join the parade. The group’s prime minister will plant a rose at the corner of Broadway and Holladay in the city’s Historic Gilbert District to commemorate the day’s activities at 11:30 a.m.

At 1 p.m., visitors and residents are invited to an official ceremony at the Turnaround, with remarks from mayors past and present, community representatives and officials in attendance. State Sen. Betsy Johnson will give the keynote speech. A time capsule will be buried during the ceremony and another bottle of sea water will be broken to commemorate the milestone.

Built at an expense of $200,000 and paid for by taxpayers, the Prom was designed by L.C. Rogers, then the city engineer and built by Jay H. Tillman, a Seaside contractor who built the Youngs Bay Bridge and paved the first 10 miles of the “Roosevelt Coast Highway.” Rogers used horse teams to replace the wooden boardwalk and turnaround with concrete.

The Prom is 14 feet wide and 1.5 miles long, and 24 blocks along the beach from Avenue U to 12th Avenue, with 2,329 arches and 50 lamp posts.

The 1921 dedication drew a crowd estimated between 25,000 to 40,000 people.

Mayor E.N. Hurd — also the editor and publisher of the Signal — and city councilors received congratulatory letters from the mayors of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Spokane, Butte, Salem and Salt Lake City, among many others.

The celebration clogged traffic Saturday afternoon and into early evening. Hundreds arrived from every train — at a time when Seaside was a rail destination, $3 round-trip from Portland — and visitors included Gov. Ben Olcott and Portland Mayor George Baker.

Visitors continued to arrive throughout the night and Sunday morning. For several hours a continuous stream of motorists arrived from the north where they had camped along the highway.

“You have built something which will attract people from the entire northwest to your city,” Baker said in his address in front of the Hotel Seaside. “You’re going to have a real city by the sea.”

The formal dedication ceremony came when eight-year-old Martha B. Hagmeier — daughter of a member of the Prom committee, Dr. Otto Hagmeier — christened the Prom by breaking a bottle of salt water near the center of the Turnaround.

The program closed with dances by the pupils of Professor Glen Oswald and “My Own United States,” sung by “Oregon’s Queen of Song,” Leah Cohen.

“At the end of the conclusion of her final encore, she was presented with a large bouquet of flowers by her admirers.”

More events followed Sunday, with a concert by the Rosarians. In the skies, an airplane exhibition featured a 5,000-foot parachute jump by Sgt. Ivan J. Devilliers, described in the Signal as “the flying fool.”

Two weeks after the Prom’s opening celebration, a “bathing girls” parade stage on the Prom brought 25 entrants, with cash prizes. This was one year before Miss America made Atlantic City, New Jersey, famous.

The Prom was so enthusiastically received that Oregon politicians reached out to Ohio Gov. Warren G. Harding to suggest Seaside as a host city of the upcoming world disarmament conference. While Seaside failed to make the short list, later that year, the world’s largest naval powers gathered in Washington, D.C., for a conference to discuss naval disarmament and ways to relieve growing tensions in East Asia.

“Seaside is fast preparing for the great influx of travelers to come and with the next season, there will be ample accommodations for all,” wrote the Signal. “Seasiders want the travelers to come and in return will endeavor to entertain all while here.”

‘Seasiders want the travelers to come and in return will endeavor to entertain all while here.’