Thousands will gather in Kewanna this weekend, a town of just 500.
The Kewanna Fall Festival promises a daily circus, pro wrestling, even a weightlifting tournament. But the main event: a world-record-holding escape artist.
Mario Manzini is known well for this trick, escaping from a straight jacket hanging upside down attached to a burning rope, and he's done it all over the world. But this weekend he's happy to entertain the people of Kewanna.
"I enjoy escaping. I just don't like being confined, but the thing is, the people love it. The kids love it. They root me on," says Manzini.
The 500 residents of Kewanna are proud of their blinking stoplight. This weekend they're prepared to handle 20,000 people.
"You hear, 'We gotta get ready for the festival. we've gotta be done for the festival," says festival coordinator Tom Mate. "Grass has gotta be cut, this has got to be done. That makes the city come alive."
Tom Mate started the festival featuring free rides and entertainment five years ago. He says it's helped breathe new life into this small town.
"It's jump started it. It's been like a defibrillator, shocked them into getting ready for something," says Mate, "Grass was growing in the cracks of the street and that just doesn't happen any more. People are fixing up and rebuilding and painting."
It's a big show for a small town, and Kewanna wouldn't have it any other way.
"A little town with a big heart, and they prove it," says Mate.
The festival officially begins Friday at 4pm, and runs all day Saturday and Sunday. There are over 40 activities to enjoy, everything from rides, to a circus, to a hot dog eating contest.
