Excursion Journals: Sunday June 27^th, 2004

After camping in Dubuque, we returned to Savanna on Sunday morning for the main event of the Grand Excursion Celebration there. Savanna had a much livelier scene developing than the one we had left behind in Bettendorf the day before. The Lilly Belle hosted an open house for much of the morning, and made a big impression as she paddled out of town at about 2:00pm. The Twilight also made an appearance. The small town atmosphere combined with the variety of events happening in a small space created a very festive environment that would continue to build until the arrival of the Celebration Belle at 4:00pm. The celebration included a variety of live historic performances commemorating the founding of Savanna, a carnival, art and local food vendors, a parade, and displays by environmental groups including the Fish and Wildlife Service and Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky. We coordinated with Brian Aldrich who was displaying the finalists for the Upper Mississippi Refuge photo contest and placed copies of The Monitor at his booth for distribution. We also handed out Monitors face to face throughout the event.

Friends of the Upper Mississippi River Fish and Wildlife Refuge: Dick talks with Brian Aldrich of the Friends of the Upper Mississippi River Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Brian was running a photo contest to choose the best photographs from the Refuge in 2003.

Celebration Belle Arrives in Savanna: This picture was teken from the grassy shore in Savanna as the Celebration Belle approached to allow passengers to disembark.

The highlight of the day was the much awaited arrival of the Celebration Belle. She chugged into port at about 3:45pm and spent about 15 minutes getting into position to dock on the flooded levee and allow passengers off onto the grass. The first approach was not entirely successful due to the immense weight off all the passengers on the viewing platforms at the bow of the boat. The shallow water along the flooded levee caused the Celebration Belle to run aground. The captain of the riverboat requested that all of the passengers move to the stern of the boat to allow the bow to rise and approach the shore more closely. After redistributing the weight of the passengers and gunning the engines, the Celebration Belle was able to get close enough to shore to drop her landing stage and allow passengers to disembark. Many passengers took in the celebration festivities and had a homemade Italian sausage or a fresh-from-the-hog barbequed pork sandwich as they listened to the bands playing in the park. We were able to contact a large number of people for our outreach drive at the Savanna Grand Excursion event. Sunday was a long and successful day for the UMBSN crew, but we were able to relax a little bit after finding a camp site at the nearby Mississippi Palisades State Park where an 1840’s encampment, bluegrass band, and Chief Shikshak had been demonstrating pioneer life and entertainment all day.

Disembarking: Dick watches as the first passenger unloads from the Celebration Belle in Savanna.