National Tom Sawyer Days is a yearly event on 4 July, organized by the Hannibal JayCees in Hannibal, Missouri in the United States. In the town, National Tom Sawyer Days and the fourth of July are celebrated at the same time. Hannibal is the hometown of the famous author Mark Twain, the writer of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Many local Tom fans or some other fans from all over the world are attracted by the big parade float, flea market, carnival for children. What is more, the fans can enter a no speed-limited car competition and a Mud Volleyball Tournament.
Most of the competitions are inspired from the novels written by Mark Twain, for instance, the inspiration “Frog long jump” is from The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County which is Mark Twain’s first famous book. This activity and contest “Tom and Becky ” are one of the earliest activities which were celebrated in National Tom Sawyer Days. Besides, a couple of goodwill ambassadors from Junior school students in Grade 7 will be selected to introduce the local culture in Hannibal.
“Painting fence contest” is the same as “Tom and Becky”, which is based on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Aunt Polly punishes Tom to paint the fence, but little Tom asked some friends to help him paint the fence. Children from place to place aged from ten to thirteen will dress up as Tom, because the costume is one of the 3 standards for evaluation. The other two dominating factors are the speed and the quality of painting the fence. Once the child wins the preliminary contest, he or she is qualified to the final competition.