Marshfield Fourth of July Celebration

   Last time, I wrote about a few Fourth of July celebrations that occurred at various communities throughout the Ozarks 100 years ago, and I briefly discussed how such celebrations differed from Independence Day festivities held throughout the region today. After I posted that article, I happened on a newspaper story about the 1922 Marshfield Fourth of July celebration. The reason it caught my eye is that I am somewhat familiar with the annual Marshfield Fourth of July event, because I even went to it a couple of times back in the day. So, I decided to write about it, even though the Fourth of July has come and gone.
   The Marshfield Fourth of July celebration was sponsored by the local American Legion post 100 years ago. The organization's plans for the event were announced and published in the local newspaper a couple of weeks ahead of time. Pre-event publicity promised "a magnificent display of fireworks, the best that money can buy, which will eclipse any thing of the sort ever shown here," and thousands of people were expected to be in attendance.
   In addition to the fireworks, a baseball game between the Conway Bear Cats and the local Marshfield Wrecking Crew was on the agenda. Other planned activities included political speakers, a band concert, and various games and contests. Some of the contests included a potato race, a three-legged race, a fat men's race, a fat women's race, and a tug of war. Among the prizes for winners of the contests were a pocket knife, a hundred pounds of pig chow, and a five-dollar pair of shoes.
   Alas, things didn't quite turn out as planned. A large crowd came out for the event, the band played well throughout the day, and the games and contests came off without a hitch. The baseball game, however, turned into "a long drawn-out affair," with lots of hits and errors and the local nine on the losing end of a 17-12 score. More disappointingly, the fireworks display was aborted when the device used to shoot them off malfunctioned and "only about a third of the fireworks were sent up."
   Despite the dud of 1922, the Marshfield Independence Day celebration is still going strong 100 years later. In fact, the town advertises its Fourth of July celebration as the oldest such event west of the Mississippi River. This year, Marshfield hosted a Fourth of July celebration for the 143rd consecutive year. As has been the case in recent years, a parade highlighted the festivities. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, participated in the Marshfield Independence Day parade.