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A little over a week after being granted permission to use Nipper Park this year for National Tom Sawyer Days, the Hannibal Jaycees have announced it is being forced to move the annual event again.
“The water has risen and kicked us out of the park, but we don’t let high water stop us from having National Tom Sawyer Days,” said Jennifer Foster, president of the Jaycees.
Even though the National Weather Service is calling for the river to gradually recede following a late Thursday crest of 22.5 feet, the Jaycees know how fickle the river can be. There also is no guarantee that the park, half of which is now under water, will be sufficiently dry to support the foot traffic that Tanyard Gardens, music and the food vendors attract.
After huddling Tuesday with city officials, the Jaycees have announced that Tanyard Gardens will be placed in the city parking lot at the northeast corner of Bird and Main streets. The live music will be performed in a grassy area behind that parking lot. The food vendors will be placed a bit further north in a parking lot on the west side of Main Street.
Foster believes this year’s sites will work well.
“It’s a block down from mud volleyball,” she said. “It’s easy access. There’s not a lot of walking. It will be a great time and I think it will be a good success.”
A major hurdle at Nipper Park was electrical service. That won’t be nearly as big an issue on North Main.
“When we went into Nipper Park they would actually have to go in and set those poles. (On Main Street) the poles are already here. We just have to hook up our temporaries and they will come down and put electric to them. It’s not as big an issue,” she said.
At the June 15 meeting of the city council, Jaycees officials indicated their backup plan was to place the event on South Main Street.
“We were looking at some locations down there, but we really didn’t have anything permanent set down there,” said Foster. “We just knew that that was an area that would interfere with businesses.”
Another concern with the South Main Street site was its distance from the craft show in Central Park and the mud volleyball tournament on North Main.
“That was too far away in terms of walking distance for some, so we looked at our different options and felt this was the best,” said Foster, noting that the carnival will remain, as planned, on Broadway from just west of the Avenue of Flags to Fourth Street.
The only other downtown site given serious consideration was a lot located between B&B Theatre and the flood levee.
“We looked at that, but there is no water available in that lot. That was going to be our last resort if this one wasn’t going to be available,” said Foster. “It just wasn’t going to work out because there wasn’t enough water and we were also looking at the electric down there. There’s only a couple of poles to run off of.”
Last year Tanyard Gardens, the live music and food vendors were located in a lot just west of Clemens Field. After one year the Jaycees decided it wasn’t a good fit.
“It was too far. We felt we were hidden down there. It was just not a good location,” said Foster. “We were hoping it was something that could be a permanent home, but there were a lot of complaints. Our carnival didn’t fit in that location. Everybody loves it when it goes straight up Broadway. This year we felt we needed to move it closer to all the other events.”
A little over a week after being granted permission to use Nipper Park this year for National Tom Sawyer Days, the Hannibal Jaycees have announced it is being forced to move the annual event again.
“The water has risen and kicked us out of the park, but we don’t let high water stop us from having National Tom Sawyer Days,” said Jennifer Foster, president of the Jaycees.
Even though the National Weather Service is calling for the river to gradually recede following a late Thursday crest of 22.5 feet, the Jaycees know how fickle the river can be. There also is no guarantee that the park, half of which is now under water, will be sufficiently dry to support the foot traffic that Tanyard Gardens, music and the food vendors attract.
After huddling Tuesday with city officials, the Jaycees have announced that Tanyard Gardens will be placed in the city parking lot at the northeast corner of Bird and Main streets. The live music will be performed in a grassy area behind that parking lot. The food vendors will be placed a bit further north in a parking lot on the west side of Main Street.
Foster believes this year’s sites will work well.
“It’s a block down from mud volleyball,” she said. “It’s easy access. There’s not a lot of walking. It will be a great time and I think it will be a good success.”
A major hurdle at Nipper Park was electrical service. That won’t be nearly as big an issue on North Main.
“When we went into Nipper Park they would actually have to go in and set those poles. (On Main Street) the poles are already here. We just have to hook up our temporaries and they will come down and put electric to them. It’s not as big an issue,” she said.
At the June 15 meeting of the city council, Jaycees officials indicated their backup plan was to place the event on South Main Street.
“We were looking at some locations down there, but we really didn’t have anything permanent set down there,” said Foster. “We just knew that that was an area that would interfere with businesses.”
Another concern with the South Main Street site was its distance from the craft show in Central Park and the mud volleyball tournament on North Main.
“That was too far away in terms of walking distance for some, so we looked at our different options and felt this was the best,” said Foster, noting that the carnival will remain, as planned, on Broadway from just west of the Avenue of Flags to Fourth Street.
The only other downtown site given serious consideration was a lot located between B&B Theatre and the flood levee.
“We looked at that, but there is no water available in that lot. That was going to be our last resort if this one wasn’t going to be available,” said Foster. “It just wasn’t going to work out because there wasn’t enough water and we were also looking at the electric down there. There’s only a couple of poles to run off of.”
Last year Tanyard Gardens, the live music and food vendors were located in a lot just west of Clemens Field. After one year the Jaycees decided it wasn’t a good fit.
“It was too far. We felt we were hidden down there. It was just not a good location,” said Foster. “We were hoping it was something that could be a permanent home, but there were a lot of complaints. Our carnival didn’t fit in that location. Everybody loves it when it goes straight up Broadway. This year we felt we needed to move it closer to all the other events.”
