Hobo convention rolling into Britt for the weekend

The Iowa State Fair isn’t the only big event opening today. The 103rd Annual National Hobo Convention starts tonight in the northern Iowa town of Britt. More than ten-thousand tourists are expected to visit the town of just over two-thousand in Hancock County. Darcy Eisman is one of the organizers of the Hobo Convention and says there will be plenty to do this weekend, including a new carnival, a parade, mulligan stew and the king and queen coronation. Eisman says most of the hobos have already made their way to Britt, some as early as last week. In the past, most hobos got from place to place by hopping in the back of a train and going wherever it took them, but Eisman says in today’s world of high security, most of the hobos do not get to Britt by train. Things get started in Britt on Thursday and everything is concluded on Sunday. For more information about this weekend’s festivities, or to read up on the history of the hobo convention, you can go to the Britt Chamber of Commerce website at “www.brittchamberofcommerce.com” and click on the Hobo link.