Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night, starring this week’s host, The Peoria Riverfront Museum with a cavalcade of guest stars and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher! And now please welcome this week’s host, all the way from the riverfront in beautiful downtown Peoria, The Peoria Riverfront Museum!
My friend Clare is behind the wheel, looking pretty and she’s the first of many guest stars we’re going to meet. It’s the 4th of July and I have a rare Saturday night off from work! And I’ve already had like three beers, so all is definitely well in my world!
Wow, it looks like a big crowd is here at the Museum for tonight’s party, let’s get in line!
Well, the line has moved quickly in a forward fashion and the front doors are looming nearby! That's a very good thing!
We’re in! Kevin took our tickets and gave us a wristband, the party has officially started...okay, the party officially started about an hour ago when I started drinking in my apartment, but let’s not quibble over such small details!
We’ll just go through the lobby to...
The outside grounds, wow, lots of people are here...
And check out these people on the lawn, they’ve already got their fireplace spots all picked and saved. And I thought I was obsessive!
Hey, I see some familiar faces over there...
It’s the Emack & Bolio crew! There’s Jim, who we last saw here and Mick who we met on this post. I didn’t write the name down of the ice cream scooper on the far right, which is too bad, because she’s the prettiest of the three! Anyway, great to see the Emack crew in action!
This little fellow not only had a flag on his shirt, he was flying one as well! What a great looking family!
This may turn into the theme for the day, but I spy more familiar faces over at this booth...
It’s Travis and Christa from Sugar, Salt and Cracked Pepper! They have a booth here selling a product called, Sugarhalos...
And here’s Travis cooking some of them up. They’re actually little fried donuts dusted with sugar...
And they are so good! Tiny little fried donuts doused in sugar, it doesn’t get much better than this!
This quartet of fine looking folks were hanging out nearby the Sugarhalo booth, from left: Stephen, Becky, Katy and Phil. Katy told me she’s a regular reader of MBIP and that’s always a pleasure to hear!
I mentioned Cracked Pepper earlier and they’re catering this whole party and they have a wide array of food available for holiday munching.
Sam was in charge of the hot dog grill and this being the 4th of July...
Well, I had to get one for my holiday dinner, it’s just the rules, fools! And I got mine with cheese and mustard and it’s delicious!
I ran into Tim and Kate shortly after devouring that dog! I don’t know what’s cooler, Tim’s 4th of July glasses or Kate’s beautiful smile!
And speaking of beautiful smiles, here’s two more! Elizabeth and Shelby were working the beer and wine stand and looking cuter than anyone has a right to look!
And check it out, as I turned around I ran smack dab into Frank, who we last saw on this post, great to see him again. I asked him if his lovely wife, Megan was around and before you know it...
Baboom! Here I am posing with Megan. Megan was the Teenage Nukologist for POP magazine which I published back in the early ‘90’s before I moved to New York. Always great to see her!
Ann and Emily were doing duty at the cotton candy stand, suhweet!
This is my friend Rosemary, who was volunteering at the BBQ with her friend, Kevin.
Tim was working the event and had a nice Yankee Doodle look going on!
Okay, continuing the familiar faces theme, here’s the WMBD Broadcasting tent where...
Jessica Flynn and Greg Batton were doing a radio show live from the BBQ.
I kind of just burst in on the scene when they were live on the air and they were not only nice enough to pose for the roving MBIP camera...
But they asked me to sit down and I was able to babble on-air for a few minutes with the two of them. Greg’s had me as a guest on his various shows for over twenty years and it’s always fun being a part of the show. He has a great talent for making guests feel at ease and bringing out the best in people. And of course it was wonderful to see Jessica too, who’s produced the Greg and Dan Show for over seven years and she’s now moving on to other things and she’ll definitely be missed. Best of luck to you, Jessica!
The great thing about this party is you can seek refuge in the air conditioned building when things get a little too heated outside. And there’s also indoor bathrooms, no port-a-potties in this place and that’s certainly a great thing! Especially since you can only rent beer!
Clare not only drove, she got me this holiday beer Koozie from Walmart that reads, “Uncle Sam, Born In The USA.” And in true Walmart fashion, it was made in China. Doh!
And continuing in the familiar faces theme, here’s Kyle who works at the museum and sold us our ticket for the The World Premiere of Asian Carpnado film back in October of 2014.
Right after I snapped Kyle’s photo, I ran smack-dab into my friends, Don and Leah, always great to see them! And this is the exclusive public announcement that you won’t find anywhere else in Peoria: They just got engaged to be married! They haven’t set a date yet, but you can be sure the MBIP roving camera will be there when this blessed event happens, especially if there’s an open bar at the reception! Congratulations to Don and Leah!
Leah wanted me to take a “selfie” with her and Clare. I’m not a big fan of “selifies,” but I did it for Leah, because whatever Leah wants, Leah gets, dammit!
MBIP pal, Josh was wandering aimlessly in this hallway and I snapped a photo of him. I’m hoping to do a post featuring his band, Jonny Quest playing a gig here in town, so stay tuned for that!
My friend Rosemary was seeking a break from the heat inside as well and Kevin took this shot of the two of us.
Okay, back outside and the sun has started to set and people are getting ready for this year’s 4th of July fireworks show.
I’m not the only one taking photos out here and that’s quite a relief!
Cathie’s the VP of Marketing and Communications at PRM and we decided to take a selfie of ourselves. I’m kind of getting in to this now! Very nice to see Cathie again and she and the whole PRM crew did a great job hosting this mammoth 4th of July party!
It’s officially dark out, time for...
The fireworks! I took a ton of photos, but only a few of them turned out to my liking, as I’m super critical of anything I do. So here’s the ones I liked, enjoy!
Afterwards there was a mass exodus from the party to everyone’s respective automobiles parked out on the streets of downtown Peoria.
In addition to the beer koozie, Clare got us both matching glow rings! I stopped a gentlemen on the street to see if he’d take a picture of us and he not only complied, but a member of his party had a glow ring too, so she joined us in the picture! I love it when things work out like this! Thanks to Clare for driving and hanging out with me and to everyone at The Peoria Riverfront Museum for hosting a fun and wonderful 4th of July BBQ! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Peoria Riverfront Museum
222 SW Washington Street
Peoria
309-686-7000
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Related posts: Saturday Night @ Salt, The Silver Bullet in East Peoria and Kuchie’s On The Water.