Well, Blow Me Down! The Popeye Picnic in...

A statue of Popeye's nemesis, Brutus, or Bluto if you prefer, joins that of the pugnacious sailor and friends in Chester, Illinois, hometown of Elsie Segar, the cartoonist who created the pugnacious sailor.

Statues

This year's Popeye Picnic (September 5-7, 2008) will see the unveiling of a granite statue of Popeye's rival and nemesis this year. Last year, statues of Olive Oyl and Eugene the Jeep were introduced preceded in 2006 by one of hamburger-loving Wimpy. The plan is to locate the statues throughout town. Brutus' statue will be unveiled at 1pm on Saturday, September 6 at the BV Bank lot.

Of course, the bronze statue of Popeye located in Segar Memorial Park next to the approach to the Chester Bridge over the Mississippi River dominates all of the statues. The six-foot sailor's statue has been in place since 1977.

Picnic

This year's picnic will include live bands, DJ's, loads of food, a program on cartooning at the Chester Library, Swee' Pea's Petting Zoo, free rides on Popeye's Pony Carousel near the gazebo, a parade at 11:30 am Saturday, Goon Island Sand Sculpturing, Haggy's Horseshoe Tournament Sunday, RC model plane show, Illinois Birds of Prey Show, the Randolph County Humane Society Pet Show, US Army exhibit, Castor Oyl's carnival rides, Heartland Wrestling, and more. Balloon, magic, and comedy shows will be found throughout the fairgrounds.

Popeye's 5K Run/Walk and 1.5 Mile Fun Run/Walk starts at 8am Saturday. A 5/10K Volksmarch's begins at 9am at Pizza Hut lot and runs until 2pm.

Fireworks are scheduled for 8pm Sunday.

Museum

Overlooking the Gazebo Park in downtown Chester where the annual event is centered is the not-to-be-missed Spinach Can Collectibles with its Popeye Museum. Everything Popeye can be found inside. The shop and museum have drawn Popeye fans from 61 countries and all 50 states. In 2004, a film crew came from South Korea to shoot in Popeye's home town. Hours are 9am to 11pm Friday and Saturday, 9am to 6pm Sunday.

Popeye is a character in a comic strip and in comic books, but there've been cartoons, TV shows, even a live-action Robin Williams movie. Popeye has even been honored with his own U.S. stamp.

The comic strip continues to be published today.

Cartoonist Elzie Segar introduced Popeye in 1929 as a minor character in his 10-year-old Thimble Theater comic strip and the squint-eyed, big armed sailor quickly took over as the central character. Segar patterned characters like Wimpy and Olive Oyl and even Popeye after people he knew from his youth in Chester.
More Information

Although admission, parking, and entertainment are free, there is a charge for some events, such as the popular Sea Hag History and Mystery Tour by bus of haunted Chester.

A website for the Popeye Picnic, which last year celebrated the anniversary of the town's destruction by UFO's as reported in a UFO magazine, is at popeyepicnic.com/main.shtml. There are plenty of photos from last year's event.

For upcoming activities in Southern Illinois, check the calendar at my Southern Illinois Road Trip website at http://home.midwest.net/~howes/southernillinoisroadtrip.