Last weekend me and my hubby braved the cold weather to check out the Annual Maple Leaf Festival in Carthage, Missouri. Carthage is approximately 45 minutes from Pittsburg, KS, not to far, but with the parade starting at 9:00 am, that meant we’d had to leave the house by 8:00 am. Getting up and out of the house on a Saturday morning isn’t a big deal, the problem was that it was a very chilling 40 or so degrees that morning. Also, for future reference leaving an hour early is not enough time to find parking. Seems that all of southwest Missouri had come out for this event.
It’s no surprise parking was an issue, this event brings in approximately 80,000 + visitors every year. This year marked the 47th annual Maple Leaf Festival, which started in the 1960’s as a marching band competition. Since then it has evolved to a full day of activities starting with a parade, followed by car show, art and exhibitors and even a Maple market place.
Although parking was an issue, we did manage to make it in time to see the parade. Below are some highlights:
We didn’t stay completely to the end, it got just too cold, so instead we headed back to the main square to get some lunch. However, despite the cold weather I had a lot of fun.
Here are a few more pics from the day:
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