And not roses alone, but every flower of field and garden and conservatory is honored and displayed.

Now the contestants are driving up to the grand stand to secure silken banners.
Every one looks a little bit weary in procession and audience.

Is it over?
I murmur regretfully: "All that's bright must fade, The brightest still the fleetest; All that's sweet was made But to be lost when sweetest." Yes, it is over! Waving banners, rainbow colors, showers of blossoms, rosy faces, mimic battle, fairy scenes, the ideal realized! This is better than the New Orleans Mardi Gras, so often marred by rain and mud, with mythological ambiguities that few can understand, and difficult to interpret in passing tableaux; better than similar display at Nice and Mentone.

_This_ I do call "unique" and the only.

Let Santa Barbara have this yearly festa for her own.