On May 15, 1939 Tulsa conducted a “Safety Parade,” which marked the end of Safety Week. This was the second year of the Mayor’s Safety Week. The Safety Parade was jointly organized by the Tulsa Safety Council and Joe Carson Post 1.
The week stressed traffic safety in Tulsa, and was organized and run by Police Commissioner Eddie Shields (a Legionnaire) and Detective Sergeant George Reif. Legionnaire Joe Lynn was the Grand Marshal of the Parade and Harry L.S. Halley was aide de camp. Joe Carson Post 1 was well represented in the parade by the post band, color guard, a float, and The parade and Post 1 legionnaires and auxiliary members participating in the parade. Overall, the Parade included 50 floats and 8 marching bands and the Joe Carson Post 1 Drum and Bugle Corps.
According to the Tulsa World (May 16, 1939) prizes were awarded to the top three floats as follows:
First: Public Service Company (whose float depicted an accident at a traffic intersection)
Second: Central High School (child in bed suffering from an automobile injury)
Third: National Mutual Casualty (no subject mentioned)
Tulsans were probably happy to see the end of the week, since the May 9th edition of the Tulsa World reported that on May 8, the opening day of Safety Week, policemen handed out 1,000 warnings to pedestrians for jaywalking and issued written warnings to “several hundred double parkers.” Sergeant Reif was quoted after the citations were issued the first day, “I’ve only got 1,000 warning cards left, so we can’t take care of more than that many erring foot travelers.”
