A good example of roadside Americana, the World's Largest Catsup Bottle water tower stands along 159 on the south end of Collinsville. Built in 1949 for the Brooks Catsup bottling plant, the catsup bottle celebrated it's 60th birthday today with a festival and car show in the American Legion park.
Click pictures for a clearer view.
Driving north on 159 drivers get the best view of the catsup bottle standing above the remnants of the bottling plant. As sad as the old stone structure looks, I've always loved that part of the scene.
Meanwhile, back at the American Legion, the party has begun. For some reason, Uncle Sam joined the festivities, standing proudly in front of the old Army helicopter.
Big. Elvis was there too, maybe just a bit taller than Uncle Sam.
MC Mike Gassman began the program.
The American Legion color guard carried in the flags.
The Legion post commander or past commander, Jesse Hoskins sang the National Anthem.
He sang the anthem as well as I've ever heard it sung, strong, loud and totally in tune with no musical accompaniment. He should be asked to sing for the All Star Game. Forget celebrities and rock stars, Jesse Hoskins is the one you want.
Then on to the activities and food.
First up was the catsup tasting contest, who could taste pick the Brook Catsup over the other brand.
Souvenirs.
The car show entrants were spread out all over as were the cars of people attending the festival.
Here's a car that caught my eye.
The frame of this car was so low to the ground, I wondered how it managed bumps in the road.
Two of our neighbors, Kris and Dawn come over to check things out.
An ice sculpter chain saws a replica of the catsup bottle.
I don't know what the deal is with this small pickup truck, but it had all kinds of dinosaurs and other creatures all over its roof.
Here's Jesse Hoskins again, making barbequed pork steaks. He and others from the Wilkerson Chapel have done this for years and the meat is really really good.
Here's Herb, a man I've known for years from my time on the library board. He's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. He was handling the ribs.
A look at the crowd.
The midway...so to speak. The blue tent on the left had someone selling Chicago hot dogs among other things, the menu board promised the real thing from Chicago, right down to the sport peppers, something you can't get in the St. Louis area.
And something you don't see very often at festivals so it was one of my favorite signs.
No porta-pottys. How great is that?
Very nice? Do you know if they sell those t-shirts online?
Posted by: ABCinUT | July 13, 2009 at 11:20 AM
You can order t shirts from the catsup bottle website:
http://www.catsupbottle.com/merchandise.html
Posted by: Diane | July 13, 2009 at 09:38 PM
Blaa Blaa Blaa!!!
Posted by: nugget | July 18, 2009 at 06:02 PM
Diane. Great coverage. Seems like the catsup bottle group always does a great job of promoting the catsup bottle and C'ville.
You failed to mention though the writeup about downtown that appeared in the Suburban Journal. I've lived here about 15 years now and I think the City has finally turned the corner on what "used to be". Can anyone please tell me if there's ever been a time in recent decades when there was so much activity in downtown AFTER 5:00? And people are finally taking some pride in their buildings and storefronts.
Kudos should go out to Paul Mann and Melissa Leavy for their economic insight, the late Mayor Schaeffer for helping to start the revitalization, Mayor Miller for continuing his vision, City Manager Knabel and Mike Tognarelli for keeping it going, and lastly major kudos goes out to the business owners who took a chance. Great job.
Posted by: yoyo | July 22, 2009 at 08:47 PM