National Tom Sawyer Days in Hannibal will be held downtown during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. It was recently announced that country music's Jon Pardi will be the Friday night headliner at Tanyard Gardens. According to the Hannibal Jaycees, several upgrades and improvements are being planned for Hannibal's annual summertime festival, including bringing in different rides for the carnival.

"We have been working so hard on this event. This is going to be much bigger, much better than the previous years," said 2015 National Tom Sawyer Days Chair Chris Powell. In an interview with KHMO, Powell said that the carnival, which was provided last year for the first time by Miller Spectacular Shows, will be returning in 2015, but in a different way. "We are bringing the same carnival back that we had last year. Last year we had half the unit. This year, they're bringing the other half, so there will be different rides. We may see a couple of the same ones, but they said there's going to be a lot of different ones, as well."

Armband night at the National Tom Sawyer Days carnival will be Wednesday, July 1.

Powell said that the Jaycees will be also be making improvements to Tanyard Gardens. "We're completely revamping the entire Tanyard Gardens setting. We're basically flipping the design, so it's going to look a lot different, this year." Tanyard Gardens will open on Thursday, July 2 and will feature nightly entertainment during National Tom Sawyer Days. Madd Hoss Jackson will headline on July 2, Jon Pardi will perform on July 3, and comedy hypnotist Brian Madrid and Pyro Pat Productions' fire juggling show will perform on July 4.

All money raised by the Jaycees at Tanyrad Gardens is put to good use, according to Powell. "Proceeds support the Jaycees' charitable work in the community throughout the year. This helps keep our operating budget going and helps our donation fund to give to various charities."

National Tom Sawyer Days 2015 will, or course, also feature the annual parade down Broadway on the morning of July 4. Fireworks will be shot off over the Mississippi that night.

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