FLOATING MUSEUM TO TELL RIVER'S HERITAGE IN CAIRO

CAIRO, Ill. -- "Showboat's a-coming!"

This may be the yell along the Ohio River levee here today as a 154-foot long, 30-foot wide, blue and beige barge approaches the 8th Street river landing.

The converted river barge, a floating museum designed to help visitors learn more about the Ohio River, will dock about noon today. It is the 21st and final stop along a 981-mile river tour that started June 16 at Pittsburgh.

The floating exhibition, "Always a River: The Ohio River and the American Experience," includes 5,000 square feet of exhibits. It is organized into 11 major displays that depict the historical, cultural, and economic aspects of life along the Ohio.

The exhibit will open to the public at 9 a.m. Monday, and will remain open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily through next Sunday.

Exhibits include video and music presentations, slide shows, working models of boats that have navigated the river, historical maps and much more. The history is traced from the Ice Age to today.

Most of the exhibits are of the "walk-through" variety, but some of them include seating for viewing slides or videos.

The "Always a River" project is sponsored by the National Humanities Council and the humanities councils of Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, all states whose borders touch the Ohio River.

Piloting the towboat, which has pushed the barge all the way from Pittsburgh, is 38-year-old Ed Shaffer of Pittsburgh. The towboat, "The Boonsboro," is an 80-by-27 foot boat, owned and operated by American Electric Power Co. of Lakin, W. Va. When not pushing the showboat, the Boonsboro is one of a fleet of towboats that guides coal-filled barges up and down the Ohio.

Shaffer has been a boat pilot 14 years and was a deck hand four years before that.

The floating museum completed a two-day visit at Paducah, Ky., Saturday, before departing for its final stop.

It will remain at Cairo a full week, which has spurred a number of local events. A Civil War "living history" encampment will be held Friday through next Sunday at Ft. Defiance State Park, located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

"Artillery and cavalry divisions of the Union Blue will encamp at the park three days," said Mable (Bo) Helt of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce. "A wedding will be conducted during the encampment Saturday evening, and church services will be held Sunday morning."

A high school band parade and concert will be held Saturday. Bands from schools throughout Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri and West Kentucky will gather at St. Mary's Park in Cairo at 10 a.m. and march to the 8th Street levee.

Local Native American artifacts will be on display at the Cairo Library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout next week, along with a history display of Locks and Dam 53, located north of Olmsted on the Ohio River.

Starting Tuesday, a photo exhibit, by Alexander Szabo, entitled, "Southern Illinois: Communities of Difference Between the Rivers," will on display at First Bank and Trust Co., open daily through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The closing ceremonies, at 2 p.m. next Sunday, will feature speakers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and will include the Native American "Gathering of Waters" ceremony, to be conducted by John Morhinger of the Miami Nation of Oklahoma.

The city is expecting thousands of visitors during the week, including school students who will be bused in to view the exhibition.

Randy Scheidling of Cairo and his dog, Sundance, recently rode on horseback more than 240 miles, to 19 cities in the tri-state area, promoting the exhibition. He delivered invitations to city officials an invitation from Cairo Mayor James Wilson.