The Great Rivers
Towboat Festival
Grafton, Illinois

June 28 - June 29, 2008
Saturday: 10 am - 4 pm
Sunday: 12 pm - 4 pm
Free

Towboat Tours O Music O Food and Refreshments
Deckhand and Tow-Rope Throwing Contests O Exhibits

Any visitor to the Grafton area will almost certainly see the giant towboats that travel up and down America's Great Rivers. The word "tow" comes from the canal age when a draft animal walking along the bank of the canal pulled a barge. As experience with moving barges grew river men found that lashing barges together and pushing them provided more control and that more barges could be moved at once. Towboats have been moving barges on the Mississippi River since the 1850s when steamboats began pushing one or more barges to increase cargo capacity. 

Combustion engines were first used about 1910 but did not become commonplace until the late 1930s, when diesel-powered propeller boats appeared. Today’s towboats range in size from about 117 feet long by 30 feet wide to more than 200 feet long and 45 feet wide and have diesel engines that can produce up to 10,000 horsepower. A typical barge carries 1500 tons of cargo, which is 15 times greater than a rail car and 60 times greater than one trailer truck. On Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th, conditions permitting, there will be two towboats docked on the riverfront that will be available for guided tours.

Towboat Tours 12 pm to 4 pm both days (weather permitting) On the riverfront

On hand to provide great music will be the Swings Kings, Dixie Rag, Poor Mountaineers, and Cornet Chop Suey. Daily activities include a rope throwing contest, river art displays, children’s activities, model boat exhibits by the St. Louis Admirals Club, and historical and educational displays by the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Corps of Engineers.  Delicious food includes BBQ served off the Towboat-shaped cooker and a crawfish and shrimp boil by Ralph Smith. You won’t want to miss over 70 dealers with all types of antiques, glassware, tools, candles, furniture, and just good old-fashioned junk at the Historic Boat Works on Front Street. The Mississippi Valley Antique and Classic Boat Society is holding a Vintage Boat and Motor Show at Grafton Harbor on Saturday, June 23, 2007 from 11 am to 5.

For more information call 618-786-7000

Learn more about the Grafton area.

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