CLASS OF 1969
The Original Water Festival Pirettes
story by JENNIFER BROWN-CARPENTER photos by SUSAN DELOACH
The year was 1969. Richard Nixon was President of the United States of America. The Beatles gave their last public performance. The world’s largest airplane, the Boeing 747, made its first-ever commercial flight. Apollo 9 set off for outer space from Cape Kennedy, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, former President and United States General, died in the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre after a long illness. Apollo 11 took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon, where they became the first humans ever to walk on its surface.
While those things were changing around the world, things were still just as you would expect in Beaufort — easy, small-town living. The graduating class of Beaufort High School, which was at that time located on Mossy Oaks Road, was about 250 students. From that group, 12 girls were chosen to be the original group of Beaufort Water Festival Pirettes. These girls were: Cindy Brown, Susanne Lewis, Terianne Smunk, Pam Koth, Lynn Smith, Celeste Prince, Janie Flood, Legare Rodgers, Nancy McGowan, Faith McAlhaney, Claudia Dickinson, and Judi Walsh. (Out of the original 12 Pirettes, 11 are still living. Cindy Brown has since passed away and is remembered very fondly.)
Celeste and Susanne both moved to Beaufort as young girls due to their fathers’ military careers. Celeste has stayed in Beaufort to the present-day, while Susanne has since relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, after several moves post-college. Pamela, who now lives in Denmark, South Carolina, is a Beaufort native, and her family has lived in Beaufort for generations. Pamela’s father owned a local grocery store, Koth’s Grocery, across from the old courthouse in downtown Beaufort, which was well-known for its ICEEs, boiled peanuts, prime meats, and friendly conversation.
Ned Brown, Cindy Brown’s father, was the local photographer in Beaufort at the time and was good friends with Mr. Elrid Moody, who was that year’s Commodore of the Water Festival. The Pirettes were Mr. Moody’s brainchild, with the help of his executive secretary, Mrs. Toni Sauls. Mrs. Sauls ran the Pirettes under the guidance of Mr. Moody, coaching them as they carried out their sole purpose: to promote the Water Festival. “We were ambassadors and good ones too,” Celeste says. While the school was not responsible for the girls being chosen as Pirettes, it is believed the school had to approve the forming of the Pirettes because these girls would be missing school to go on their promotional campaigns in Columbia, Savannah, Charleston, and beyond.
This was the 14th year of the Beaufort Water Festival, and the event was growing as well as interest in the event. Mr. Elrid Moody wanted to bring more attention to the event and decided one new way of marketing was to utilize these 12 high school seniors. And they did a lot of marketing.
Ned Brown was the driving force behind a lot of the Pirettes’ activities. Everything the girls did, Ned was there to photograph it, as he was working for The Beaufort Gazette. The other local newspaper, The Sea Islander, also promoted the Pirettes and the Water Festival, using their photographer, Bob Carpenter.
The Pirettes went to Governor McNair’s office on April 30th, and he introduced them before a joint session of the South Carolina legislature. The same day, they were featured on Today in Carolina, which was a local television program in Columbia. They also made television appearances in Savannah and Charleston, talking about the Beaufort Water Festival with hosts such as the Charleston television personality, Carroll Godwin. All these adventures provided many photo ops for local photographers and newspapers to support and promote the Water Festival.
“At the beginning, I expected to do whatever Mr. Brown told us to do,” Pam says. They were on “Uncle Billy Peter’s” radio station, WBEU in Beaufort on Boundary Street. They participated in surrounding parades leading up to the Water Festival, including the Watermelon Festival in Hampton County. Late one night, members of the Water Festival Committee took the Pirettes on an excursion to Fripp Island, hoping for a chance to watch a sea turtle lay her eggs. According to a newspaper article from that week in 1969 written by Trannie Brown, “the group traveled along the beach by jeep and found their turtle about one-half mile beyond La Tai Inn.” The turtle hatched over 80 eggs that night, and the Pirettes posed for pictures as “the skies unleashed a deluge of water, causing the safari to call off future searching efforts for the night visitors.” Along with the turtle expedition, the Pirettes also presented a fashion show to the ladies on Fripp Island to bring more attention and support to the Water Festival.
The Pirettes had uniforms or “costumes” for their promotional activities. The costumes were made by Garland Mills Company, followed by a request from Elrid Moody. The girls wore sheer navy blue and red plaid shirts with long sleeves, white pants, white vests, red sashes, and white shoes with wooden swords. President Edward Bernet of Garland Mills Company selected the design and approved the production model. Beaufort in the summer is hot, as we all know, so the girls would eventually wear miniskirts, roll up their sleeves, and tie their shirts up above their stomachs.
During the week of the Water Festival, the girls participated in various events, coordinated by Mr. Moody or Mr. Brown, to generate excitement about the Festival. They sailed up the Beaufort River from Savannah on a historic sailing ship, the Cruz del Sur. They locked up Mayor Monroe Key in jail on Bermuda Day for failing to wear shorts as advertised. The Pirettes had lots of fun, taking rides in speedboats and ski boats, boarding shrimp boats, and, of course, highlighting one of the culminating events, riding on a float in the Water Festival Parade.
The Water Festival was very different in 1969 than it is today. “Back then,” as the Pirettes told me, the Water Festival was more of an event for the locals, focused mostly on activities on, in, and around the river. The event was held primarily on Thursday through Sunday, instead of the ten days we are used to now. There would be the Blessing of the Fleet, The Blue Angels, skydivers, a water ski show, sailboat races, a helicopter show, baton twirling contests, a parade of boats, along with speed boat races, and more. In 1969, most of the events were centered around the Beaufort bay. The mayor had to walk the plank of the Cruz del Sur, with the Pirettes forcing him down it.
The bigger events were the Beauty Pageant on Friday night with whoever won being crowned at the Coronation Ball on Saturday night as the Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands. All the adults attended the Coronation Ball and dressed in fancy clothing, while the youth attended the street dance. Sunday saw special church services for Water Festival attendees at churches around Beaufort, such as St. Peter’s Catholic Church, St. Helena’s Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church, St. John’s Lutheran Church, The Baptist Church of Beaufort, and Carteret Street Methodist Church. There would be music provided by the military band during the event and then, on Sunday evening, the appearance of the Navy’s Blue Angels at the Marine Corps Air Station.
The “original” Water Festival Pirettes were recently reunited at a picnic on the river, hosted by one of the Pirettes as one event of the three-day class reunion of the BHS Class of 1969. They wore special t-shirts that were gifted to them by their fellow Pirette, Nancy. And 10 of the original 12 women were there!
It has now been 55 years since the original Pirettes “took the stage” at the Beaufort Water Festival, and now, we cannot imagine what the Water Festival would be like without our Pirettes. For the original Pirettes, the memories of that year are incredibly fond ones. “It is such a great memory. We had a blast,” says Pam. “Having a group of girlfriends that, even when you don’t see them for a very long time, you can reunite as if you’ve never left. Indeed, it has a tremendous impact on your life. A connection with friends is one of the best parts of being a Pirette for me,” continues Pam. “Yes, it has been fun to reconnect with these girls that I spent so much time with,” Susanne says. “Your friendships never die,” Celeste adds. “This solidified our connections to Beaufort. No matter where we are, or what we do, we are connected to Beaufort through our experiences as Pirettes.”
These original Pirettes intend to “take the stage” once again as they plan to enter this year’s Water Festival Parade.
As a newspaper article stated at the end of Water Festival 1969, “All in all a job well done to a city and its citizens.” And cheers to many more.
(Special thanks to Pamela Koth Guess, Celeste Prince-Brown, and Susanne Lewis Kirkland for all their help and the many newspaper articles and photos they provided.)
