Independence Day back in 1933, as in 2023, fell on a Tuesday --- and Chariton was preparing to celebrate big after a four-year hiatus. That's the schedule above, as published in The Leader of July 4. This was strictly a one-day event and there was no parade, but there were two bands --- and a public wedding at 10 a.m. on the bandstand.
The identity of the couple who had agreed to get hitched before a crowd of thousands was kept secret until the last minute --- adding to the anticipation.
Here's the text of the Leader's story:
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Chariton's first celebration in four years was expected to draw thousands here Tuesday for observance of Independence Day. Committees late Monday were hastily putting finishing touches to weeks of careful planning for a full day's program of special events.
A sunrise salute scheduled for 4 a.m. Tuesday will open an observance which will not be ended until near midnight.
Charles Miller, Albia attorney, will deliver the principal address of the day from the municipal bandstand in the courthouse park. This program, which begins at 10:30 a.m., will also include music by the Chariton American Legion Junior Band, a special quartet and a chorus of 20 voices and a reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Concerts by the two junior bands and the Volunteer Fire Department will be given at 8:45, 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and at 12:15, 1:15, 3:30 and 6:15 p.m.
Secrecy surrounding the identity of the couple who will be married in the bandstand at 10 a.m. has created unusual interest. The bride, a young girl employed in a Chariton store, and the bridegroom, a young Chariton coal miner, both graduates of Chariton high school, will hear services read by Rev. Frederick Nichol, pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Chariton.
The marriage license will be furnished by Grover Burgstrum, county clerk. The application will be made late Monday evening. Many Chariton stores are cooperating in honoring the newly married couple.
At 3 p.m. athletics will reign king. Fat men, ladies, girls and boys will compete for cash prizes, running with legs tied, trundling wheelbarrows, carrying eggs in spoons and handicapped in various other fashions.
At 4 p.m., the boxing show will be given in the courthouse park. A group of Chariton's best mitt flingers will compete for cash prizes.
In the East Park stadium, a kitten ball tournament will be continuous activity for baseball enthusiasts. Eight fast teams have entered in competition for $65 in cash prizes.
A large exhibit of fireworks will go on display in East Park at 8:45 p.m. A platform dance on the northeast corner of the square will conclude the day's celebration.
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The Herald-Patriot of July 6 was able to report, as it turned out, on an event that met and exceeded everyone's expectations:
To the stirring music of two bands and the endless crack of fireworks, visitors from all sections of Lucas and surrounding counties poured into Chariton Tuesday to celebrate the Fourth of July. The crowd of merrymakers during the peak of festivities was estimated at 10,000.
The bandstand marriage attracted a crowd estimated at 5,000:
The other morning feature was a public wedding. An impressive silence reigned over an audience of nearly 5,000 as the ceremony in which Miss Audrey Kennedy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. Kennedy of Chariton, and Laurel Marshall, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Marshall, also of Chariton, were married was carried over the public address system.
And the biggest event of the day, fireworks, filled East Park (now Yocom Park) with an overflow crowd:
The larger share of one of the greatest crowds ever to celebrate the Fourth of July here concentrated at East Park in the evening where a brilliant display of fireworks was staged. Lining the terraces which surround most of the park and extending even to the lawns of neighboring homes the thousands of people saw the colorful exhibition in a perfect setting.
Automobiles made double lines on surrounding streets for many blocks in all directions and police were busy solving traffic jams for some time after a flaming "Good Night" had burned into darkness.
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Laurel and Audrey Marshall lived in Chariton until 1936, when they moved to Wichita, Kansas, where he spent 20 years as superintendent of the Wichita Milling Co. They had moved to the site of a new job, at Saint Francis in far west Kansas, when he died at age 48 on July 20, 1959, after 26 years of marriage. His remains were returned to Chariton for burial.
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