Monday, July 8, 2013

4th of July in Hannibal, Missouri

Hubby and I spent all of last week helping my parents clear out the clutter in their three story house in Hannibal, Missouri.  However, on the 4th we took the day off from working to join with "America's Hometown" in celebrating Independence Day.
 
We began the day with a wonderful small town parade.
 
The local trolley car carried some of the contestants for the Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher look-a-like contest - a big honor in Hannibal!
 
Some of the Tom and Becky's rode on convertibles.
 
You've never heard a marching band like a band of bag pipes.
 
The local businesses had entries too.
 
Some of them were really decked out for the occasion.
 
After the parade we did a little Christmas shopping at the arts and crafts booths set up in the park on the town square.
 
Then we strolled the carnival set up down town near the Mississippi River.
 
Afternoon, found us near the Mark Twain museum where lots of other festivities took place.
 
The contest I wanted to see was the fence painting based on the story of Tom Sawyer and how he tricked the other boys in town into painting the fence for him that he was supposed to paint.  The contest was based on the boys' outfit (including everything in their pockets), speed, and paint coverage of the fences.
 
After the costume judging, the boys lined up across the street, racing to their fence at the "go" signal.
 
Finally, they slapped as much paint on their fence as they could before racing back to the starting/finish line.
 
We ended the day watching a great fireworks display.  Hannibal celebrated Independence Day all week long with more festivities but we had to go back to work.  More on that later!
 
 
 


6 comments:

  1. Hi Candy, Thank you for sharing such a fun day with us! Our town has a parade on Labor Day that is like yours and then a craft fair too. I love the contests-how fun! Hope you got your parents house decluttered. Makes you want to clear out all the needless stuff at home. Hope you have a great evening.
    Hugs, Noreen

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  2. Great to see so many people in Hannibal. We were there last summer and the place was deserted.

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  3. What great fun this would be!
    Hope you had a super 4th of July.
    Looks like you did.
    I'd like to visit Hannibal someday soon.
    Think about it every time I go to St. Louis.
    Sweet Summer Blessings to you,
    d

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  4. Now that sounds like a real slice of Americana. What fun! I would love to see all the Becky Thatcher and Tom Sawyer look alikes. The band of bagpipes??? Well, you'd have to convince me LOL!!

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  5. What a fun day! It has been quite awhile since we visited Hannibal and it is one of my favorite day trips! Need to go there. I enjoy following your blog.
    Debbie

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  6. ummmmmmmm -- did we sample any "deep-fried twinkies"?

    One of these days I would love to be in a small town for the 4th. I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy the all-inclusive parades & trappings that go with the celebrations.

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