The Autumn Historic Folklife Festival in Hannibal has become one of the most loved annual events in the region. The festival is nearly 40 years old. Vendors, performers, residents and visitors will all converge on Hannibal's Main Street for the 2015 edition of the Folklife Festival October 17-18. 

The Folklife Festival is an event from the Hannibal Arts Council, which has sponsored it since its inception. Michael Gaines, HAC's executive director, says the festival was created to be a celebration of Hannibal's downtown historical setting. "I've read the notes from the very beginning when it was just a block long, and the Arts Council did everything, the food, the drink, got the exhibitors." As they years have gone by, more and more organizations have gotten involved, though some of the food booths will be serving items using recipes that have not changed since the very first Folklife Festival. "Like the cheese soup. They're using a Hannibal Arts Council recipe that started in year one, and it's been turned over to other organizations as the festival grew and the Arts Council needed more time to concentrate on planning the festival the food booths started to be done by other organizations."

Gaines also says that some of the volunteers and artists for this year's festival have been with the Folklife Festival since the beginning, 39 years ago.

The 2015 Autumn Historic Folklife Festival will take place along Hannibal's Main Street from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 17; and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 18.

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