Charter Members

The Daffodilian organization was being formed in 1964, under Festival President Mr. Shirley Wekell and in 1965 the Daffodilians started operation. As a separate group, the Daffodilians were designed to be a "hosting" and "escorting" auxiliary for the Daffodil Festival Board and the Royalty. The first Sir Boss of the Daffodilians was Mr. Bill Robinson and Lady Verna.

The Daffodilians, originally named "DaffodilEONs" for the men and "DaffodilANNs" for the wives, was strictly a COUPLES organization, due to their social responsibilities, until recent years. Prior to the Daffodilians merger with the Board of Directors in 1996, the two groups were easily identifiable with the Board Members wearing GREEN coats and the Daffodilians always in YELLOW.  Their normal compliment was limited to 66 active couples with the Emeritus and Honorary levels added later for those who qualified. By comparison, the Board had up to 40 "individuals", men and women, serving two year terms without being required to pay any dues; they generally did the functions of raising the funds to operate the festival and ran the parade, while leaving the social and hosting responsibilities to the Daffodilians.

The two groups became, over the years, somewhat competitive due to the fact the Daffodilians were much more visible in the community and the parades, while the Board Members (Green Coats) were barely noticed while working hard behind the scenes. Plus, the Daffodilians had a reputation for always having FUN. Long live our new responsibilities while keeping some of those old traditions.


The following are CHARTER MEMBERS of the Daffodilians from 1965. Many are no longer with us, yet several are still involved today. We wish to remember these fine local couples for their foresight in starting the Daffodilians and for all their hard work to advance their dream: