Even though severe thunderstorms cleared out Mule Day festivities and officials were forced to evacuate Muary County park, it was business as usual come Friday.
Twin brothers Jason and Joel from Alabama are no strangers to Mule Day or the traditions that come with it, including a three day wagon train from their hometown 110 miles away.
They've also become accustomed to the storms that seem to roll through every year. "If it gets bad we go to the storm shelter," Jason said.
Mule day attendee Malcolm recalls a storm that passed through a few years ago. "It come up, this storm. There's like 50 people under there cause it was raining and all the sudden it started blowing the rain sideways and was really getting bad. Everybody just made a dash for that bathroom, there was like 50 of us standing in those two bathrooms," he laughed.
Thursday's storms prove history can repeat itself. "This year, praise God it's only going to be Thursday and it will be clear all weekend. Last year it was Thursday and it was clear all weekend," attendee Schari Malone said.
She visited Mule Day with her granddaughter. "This is Trinity's very first year and she's going crazy over seeing, she calls them all horses even though they're really mules and donkey's and horses," laughed Malone.
Mule Day has been a Columbia tradition for nearly 170 years. What began as a single day livestock and mule market turned into a nearly week long festival celebrating all things mule. The Mule Day celebration lasts through Sunday April, 3. For a full schedule visit; http://muleday.org/category/scheduleofevents/
