Alligator Wrestling

    Wrestling alligators was a way of life for the Native Indians. They would hunt alligators and kill them for food and the hides. This is the way they would put food on the table and make money, by selling the items they made from the alligators. Then one day a tourist saw an Indian capture a gator and thought he was wrestling it. The tourist paid to watch the Indian "wrestle" the Alligator. So the Indians started wrestling alligators for money and then going out and buying food and other items for the tribe.

   A tradition still going strong......
    
    The Chalo Nitka (Bass Day) Festival originally began as a celebration of the newly "tarred" Main Street (now Ave. J) in Moore Haven. Led by the mayor, the first Chalo Nitka Festival was celebrated in the January 21, 1948 issue of the Glades County Democrat. LaBelle, Pahokee, Belle Glade and Moore Haven High School bands and colorful floats gave a variety of festive sights and sounds to the parade. At the end of Main Street the parade was halted by a ribbon stretched across the road. City Councilmen Mack Green and Carr Settle officially cut the ribbon and opened the street.

    Afterward some 200 band members played a 45 minute concert followed by a barbecue dinner. The first festival was attended by more than 2500 people. County Agent A.G. Hutchinson reported that there was a plentiful supply of pork and beef for barbecuing, so there would be plenty of food, regardless of how many people attended.

    Sixteen talented young women entered that first Chalo NItka Queen Pageant. Phyllis Howdeshell ran a close second and Sandra Fleming caught third place while Miss Peggy Stalls was crowned "Queen of the Bass" by Tom Dazey president of the Glades County Chamber of Commerce at that first festival. John Mack Brannan, her escort, was crowned king.

    Christened the Chalo Nitka Festival, which is the Seminole word for Bass Day, the festival became an annual event, featuring an annual fishing tournament saluting the Black Bass, beauty pageants culminating the Chalo Nitka Queen contest, a parade and of course, the festival itself, which includes carnival rides, arts and crafts and food booths and special exhibits by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, including alligator wrestling, Native American clothing contest, and arts and crafts exhibits.

US 27 & 10th Street 
Moore Haven, FL 33471