Twain Town, U.S.A.

It’s the Fourth of July 2025, in Hannibal, Missouri, and what appears to be the town’s entire population has gathered in the sweltering heat to watch the annual parade. It’s an event befitting “America’s Hometown,” as Hannibal likes to call itself. This is where Samuel Clemens—better known by his pen name, Mark Twain—grew up, and the parade is part of the annual National Tom Sawyer Days, now in its 70th year. Just about every local organization has decorated a vehicle: the Cub Scouts, the volunteer fire department, a power-washing business with the slogan “Nothing too mean for us to clean!”