CARTHAGE – The second annual Splash and Carthage Fun Day this weekend will give people a chance to laugh at themselves. The theme is Rednecks.

Participants in the parade and attendees at the evening Redneck Hoedown on Saturday are encouraged to dress the
part.

Rob Lincoln, co-owner of the Blue Moose
General Store and Campground, which is the sponsoring business, said
some people feel that way about this small, western Franklin County
town, so the organizing committee, said why not?

Money raised from most of the events
will benefit the Carthage Community Hall, which was once the Webb
River Grange Hall. The past few years there has been an effort to
restore the hall, which is used for the annual town meeting and other events.

Until 2000, said Sheila Gordon, one of
the Fun Day organizers, Carthage Heritage Day brought many current
and former residents into the town. Now, Lincoln and Bill Skidgell,
co-owner of the Blue Moose General Store and Campground, want Fun Day
to do the same thing.

“People missed the heritage days,”
Lincoln said. He said last year’s event brought in more than 200
people.

Starting at 7 a.m. Saturday at the
Community Hall there will be a pancake breakfast by and benefiting the Fire Department. Next up is a parade with floats, ATVs,
bicyclists, old tractors and cars, and anyone and anything else who
wants to participate. It begins at 10 a.m. at the Carthage Town
Office. Participants will walk or ride more than a mile south to the
campgrounds.

The Webb River Snowmobile Club will
serve a barbecue lunch beginning at noon at the campgrounds, followed
by an afternoon of events that include horseshoes, arm wrestling and
cribbage tournaments, as well as a variety of activities for
children. Among the children’s activities are games, a bounce house,
face painting, and a kids mini-survivor challenge, Gordon said.

At the Redneck Hoedown at
the campground’s pavilion from 7 to 10 p.m., King and Queen Rednecks
will be crowned. Winners of all events will receive trophies.

Rain date for all events is Sunday.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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