the festival was first held saturday, may 3, 1924, and was originally celebrated as a one-day event (although not held in 1942–1945 due to world war ii). features include a grand feature parade, firefighters' parade (first held on thursday, april 18, 1929), a carnival and midway, luncheons, races, walks, dances and concerts, as well as a field show competition which formerly gave out the queen's cup trophy to the winner (although the trophy was retired in 1977, by princess anne high school of virginia beach, virginia after winning the competition three straight years). the queen, queen shenandoah, has been crowned every year at john handley high school (with the exception of 2007, due to ongoing renovations), starting with the original queen, elizabeth steck (arthur).