Southern Illinois entices vacationers

Local festivals feature nostalgia, hospitality, and recreation for all ages and interests.

Popeye admirers look up to the six-foot bronze statue of the cartoon hero in Chester, IL. (Photo courtesy of the Randolph County Herald-Tribune, Chester, 1L 1983.)

By Thomas E. Van Hyning

Towns and hamlets throughout the 35 counties comprising southern Illinois host approximately 160 major spring, summer and fall festivals. The summer excitement begins with Superman festivities in Metropolis, a town of 7,171 inhabitants on the Ohio River.

Superman officially became a Distinguished Son of Metropolis on Jan. 21,1972, and local civic clubs held the first annual Superman Celebration in June, 1979. The eighth annual festivities will be held during the weekend of June 6-7. This Massac County town will feature a beauty contest, kiddie races, a carnival and a mock bank robbery.

Salt festival

Equality, population 831, in Gallatin County plays host to the Salt Festival June 13-14. Profitable salt-mining leases accounted for $10,673, or one-seventh, of the State's revenues during 1821 and 1822. The 1986 Salt Festival will feature a pet parade, gospel singing, a barbecue, afternoon street dancing, coronation of the Salt Queen and country music.

July rendezvous

Bone Gap, a hamlet of 350 residents in Edwards County, hosts a fourth of July Rendezvous on the grounds of the Indian Hills Museum. This museum has been called the greatest private exhibit of "collectibles" in the Midwest with more than 100,000 items. Some

Illinois Parks and Recreation 9 May/June 1986

date back to the Paleo-Indian Period 10,000-12,500 years ago; others are as recent as the 1930s.

The third annual Rendezvous July 4-6 will feature quilt making, black-smithing, basket weaving, horse and buggy rides, shingle making, horseshoeing and vegetable chowder making.

Coal festival

The coal mining village of Marissa, population 2,568, in St. Clair County is the scene of a Coal Festival. The Green Diamond Mine of Marissa established a world record in 1949 by producing 1,486 tons of coal in one shift with a conventional unit of two shuttle cars and 14 men.

The Lions Club will sponsor the seventh annual Coal Festival throughout the Aug. 8-10 weekend. This year's activities will include coal exhibits, a carnival, arts and crafts, a parade and designation of the Coal Queen.

Peach festival

Cobden, a town of 1,210 residents in Union County, has hosted one of the longest running festivities in the region — the Cobden Peach Festival — since 1938. The Cobden Appleknockers brought fame to the town in 1964 by finishing second in the State high school basketball finals.

Cobden's 49th Peach Festival will be sponsored by the Lions Club and take place Aug. 15-16. A barbecue at the local ballpark, the selection of the Peach Queen, games and exhibits, and plenty of peach cobbler are on the agenda.

Popeye festival

Chester is the hometown of Popeye. This Randolph County town of 8,401 inhabitants was the birthplace of Elzie Crisler Segar, the renowned cartoonist who created Popeye in 1929. Townfolk in Chester affirm that the characters in the Popeye cartoons were based on Chester residents of the 1920s.

Segar Memorial Park, which overlooks the Mississippi River, contains a six-foot bronze statue of Popeye. Visitors can both see the statue and partake of the 1986 Popeye Festival which is on tap for Sept. 5-7. Events are to include a parade, a 10,000 meter road race, a flea market and a dance.

Popcorn capital

Ridgway and its 1,245 citizens will celebrate their 29th annual Popcorn Farmers Day festivities during Sept. 12-13. Ridgway claims to be the Popcorn Capital of the World, and justifies this statement through the presence of the Blevins Popcorn Company — a major employer in Gallatin County.

The 1986 celebration is sponsored by Popcorn Farmers Day, Inc., a nonprofit organization. Activities will include a frog jumping contest, a kiddie

Illinois Parks and Recreation 10 May/June 1986

Superman comes to the rescue and foils the attempt by bank robbers to get away in their antique during a mock robbery scene at the 1980 Metropolis, IL, Superman Festival. (Photo courtesy of Clyde Wills, Metropolis Planet, Metropolis, IL, June, 1980.)

parade, live Nashville entertainment, the crowning of the Popcorn Queen, a 5,000 meter run, arts and crafts exhibits, and a bubblegum blowing contest.

Apple festival

A major fall event in the region is the Murphysboro Apple Festival, a fixture since 1952. The town of Murphysboro in Jackson County has 9,866 residents who eagerly await their festival and numerous fun-filled activities. These include apple peeling and cider chugging contests, best apple pie, and the fiddle and banjo playing events.

Murphysboro's 35th Apple Festival is slated for Sept. 10-13, with the grand parade of some 40 marching bands programmed for the final day.

Additional choices

Other exciting festivals to note include the Fort de Chartres Rendezvous in Prairie du Rocher in early June when the fort comes alive with cannons, fife and corps, and buckskinned militia battles. Cahokia Mounds Discovery Days during the second week in July enables visitors to enjoy some of ten World Heritage archaeological sites.

Summer travelers can also participate in a special 1950s Festival that will take place at Cave In Rock in Hardin County each weekend starting with the fourth of July and going through Labor Day.

Nostalgia buffs can also look forward to the American Thresherman Association Steam, Gas, and Threshing Show held in Pinckneyville during the third week in August. This Perry County town of 3,319 inhabitants puts on displays of sawmilling, engine threshing, and tractor pulls, and also features an antique auto show and parade as part of the festivities.

Travel assistance

Detailed information about these and other summer and fall festivals may be obtained from the Southern Illinois Tourism Council. Inquiries may be addressed to Executive Director Pete Housman, P.O. Box 97, Collinsville, IL 62234. The Regional Tourism Council may also be reached at (618) 345-4000 in Collinsville and (618) 833-3200 in Jonesboro.

In addition general information about the festivals can be found in the April-September, 1986, edition of the Illinois Calendar of Events published by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA). This State office can be contacted at (312) 793-4732 (Chicago), (217) 782-7139 (Springfield) and (618) 997-4371 (Marion).

Moreover, travelers may wish to note the names and phone numbers of persons who head the four local Visitors Bureaus in southern Illinois. They are Trish Richey, Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau, (618) 549-2147; Larry Bowman, Williamson County Tourism Council, (618) 997-3690; Ron Presson and Bob Ermovic, Collinsville Convention and Visitors Bureau, (618) 345-2920, and Joel Satterfield, Mt. Vernon Convention and Visitors Bureau, (618) 242-3151.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thomas E. Van Hyning is a graduate student in the Department of Recreation at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He serves as a graduate assistant in the Office of Leisure Research.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 11 May/June 1986