National Hobo Days?

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CYdTracked

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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Ran across a YouTube channel on my suggested videos feed https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHoboShoestring and apparently found that there is a National Hobo convention in Britt, IA every year. Anyone ever heard of this before? Apparently has been happening since 1900 although it was canceled by Covid this year. There is a hobo king and even a museum too apparently. Learn something new all the time...

www.britthobodays.com
Celebration of the homeless is what it is.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Ran across a YouTube channel on my suggested videos feed https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHoboShoestring and apparently found that there is a National Hobo convention in Britt, IA every year. Anyone ever heard of this before? Apparently has been happening since 1900 although it was canceled by Covid this year. There is a hobo king and even a museum too apparently. Learn something new all the time...

www.britthobodays.com
Honestly, you don’t want to go.
 

Beernuts

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I have gone to a few Hobo days over the years. It is your typical small town celebration that in this case celebrates Hobo's. There are a handful of hobo's that arrive and stay at the hobo camp. I guess it is what you want to make of it...if you are with some fun people it will be a great time.

Couple things:
1) I remember going to a Hobo day celebration and the local band "Amber Wave" played. Anyone remember that band? I think they played the Duncon ballroom a few times.

2) The volunteers in Britt have to be busy people. Between Hobo days, the annual Draft Horse Show weekend, the Hancock Co Fair, and the weekly car races, the volunteers must get exhausted.
 
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Angie

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Part of my family is from Britt, so there's a healthy fascination with hobos in our family. I've not made it to a Hobo Days, but really want to. I guess there are a lot of beans and bindles.

Has the hobo population been hit hard by COVID?
 
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Mr Janny

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I grew up right near Britt, so I am definitely familiar. Had my share of mulligan stew over the years
 
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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Part of my family is from Britt, so there's a healthy fascination with hobos in our family. I've not made it to a Hobo Days, but really want to. I guess there are a lot of beans and bindles.

Has the hobo population been hit hard by COVID?
Beans and bindles? What do you mean?
 
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Angie

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Beans and bindles? What do you mean?

The beans is just that hobos eat beans:

1606334310525.png

And I learned through Janny that the thing they hold on a stick that holds all of their earthly belongings is called a bindle:

1606334363480.png
 

qwerty

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I grew up right near Britt, so I am definitely familiar. Had my share of mulligan stew over the years
My in-laws are all in Britt so am there every year. They still give out mulligan stew but it is nothing like 20 years ago. Used to be 2 hour line, now you can almost walk up and get served.
And as someone stated, the celebration is typical small town affair, meaning a three day drunk fest (which was fun when young, not into it now).
 
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Clone83

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I met Blackie once a long time ago, the longtime King of the Hobos, in Iowa City (go figure :D).

I had a nice railroad map which I made a copy of for him. It had a map of Iowa on one side, advertising “the best farming ground in the best farming state in the union,” something you might pick up on the east coast after the Civil War, with a schedule of the stops across Iowa. From there it was like “from the CRI & Pacific, to Council Bluffs and Union Pacific, carrying the through California mails to Sacramento” — like a train schedule (and farm land advertisement, land that had been granted to the railroad), but across the country instead of local metro.

He had other railroad maps himself.
 
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Cyclonesrule91

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I grew up in Britt so been to many Hobo Days.

I also am a little younger than the the guys in Amber Wave band and seen them a lot. Great band

The only time I have been to Hobo Day's in the past decade is when I am back for class reunions. When I was a kid you would get legitimate hobos, but the last 5-10 years you really get some shady characters the come to town more so than actual hobo's and then they stay around and have caused trouble. Used to happen the week following Sturgis so you could get some characters stopping through on the way home after Sturgis. One year there was a group of Hell's Angels that stopped in the early to mid 90's.

They used to say that the population of Britt triples when Hobo Days is going on, but that doesn't take into account that a good majority of the town get's the hell out of the area for the event.
 
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urb1

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I believe I read that there are few authentic hobos anymore, because the train companies cracked down on them riding in the cars. The article was pertaining to Hobo Days.
 
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qwerty

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This was an OK book I read 20 years ago. I know he mentioned Britt and I think he talks about modern hobos are more of a hitchhiker than a railcar jumper.

 
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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
I grew up in Britt so been to many Hobo Days.

I also am a little younger than the the guys in Amber Wave band and seen them a lot. Great band

The only time I have been to Hobo Day's in the past decade is when I am back for class reunions. When I was a kid you would get legitimate hobos, but the last 5-10 years you really get some shady characters the come to town more so than actual hobo's and then they stay around and have caused trouble. Used to happen the week following Sturgis so you could get some characters stopping through on the way home after Sturgis. One year there was a group of Hell's Angels that stopped in the early to mid 90's.

They used to say that the population of Britt triples when Hobo Days is going on, but that doesn't take into account that a good majority of the town get's the hell out of the area for the event.
Those amber wave guys still think they can make it big. Kinda sad actually. Well, with the one guy dying, maybe reality has hit them.
 
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