Bay Area history: 1958 Tampa Snow Show debacle began with good intentions

Christmas dream turned disaster

Lloyd Sowers reports

TAMPA, Fla. - Ice and snow in Florida have always been rare, but the headlines announced a blizzard in Tampa about 65 years ago and an ice company started spraying real snow.

As cool as it seemed, it really wasn't. It was November 1958.

"It was one of the hottest Novembers on record," said Historian Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center.

He said things just got worse when they dug a hole for the massive, nearly 100 foot, Christmas tree and hit a sewer line.

"And raw sewage begins bubbling up on Franklin Street," shared Kite-Powell.

He put together the exhibit on the 1958 Tampa Snow Show debacle to compliment another exhibit on different holidays observed in Florida. Powell said the 1958 Tampa Snow Show began with the best intentions.

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Merchants wanted to do something special to keep people from traveling to the new shopping centers to buy their Christmas gifts. He said it could have gone off flawlessly.

"What if the Christmas tree hadn't broken through the sewer line?," he asked. "What if it wasn't in the high 80s every day? What if there hadn't been a Santa Claus who broke into a jewelry store?" asked Kite-Powell.

The 5-story ski jump they built was scraped bare by university students riding sleds on it and a Norwegian ski champion they brought in hit a bare spot and went splat in the Tampa snow. But, he was ok.

"What if the woman hadn't been slashed by an ice skate of a performer?" asked Kite-Powell. "What if the other person hadn't been arrested for prostitution? It would have been great."

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Merchants publicly apologized for the problems and Christmas was celebrated in Tampa.