In 1938, Walt Disney wrote, “More things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have happened since–or are likely to in the future.” On the third Saturday of each September since 1999, Toonfest has taken place in the town that inspired Main Steet, U.S.A. in California, Florida, Japan, France and Hong Kong.
The North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists’ Society meets in Marceline in conjunction with Toonfest. A variety of Walt Disney Company and family personalities also attend.
This year’s guests included Imagineer Tony Baxter, animation historian and L.A. Times film critic Charles
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Solomon, “Ziggy” artist Tom Wilson, Jr. and “Zits” artist Jim Borgman. All of these guests made presentations at The Uptown Theater on the same stage where Walt intoduced his new film, “The Great Locomotive Chase,” starring Fess Parker, on July 4, 1956.
Also returning this year were Bob Wilson and his wife Gloria. Bob was attorney for the Walt Disney family’s Retlaw corporation for more than 30 years and continues to work with Sharon Disney’s family.
The day began with a parade down Main Street, USA, as the street historically known as Kansas Avenue has been renamed in recent years, a case of life imitating art imitating life. The town’s centrally located Ripley Square is bordered by the Carnegie Library, the Walt Disney U.S. Post Office, the original site of the Santa Fe Depot and a row of Main Street shops. Ripley Square is clearly the model for Town Square in Disneyland.
During Toonfest, Ripley Square is the site of nonstop entertainment including music, exhibits and vendors of crafts and food. Among the highlights of the day are vignettes from Walt’s childhood portrayed by local kids. They compete for the honor of representing Marceline throughout the year as the official “Walt and Ruth”.
Ruth Disney was Walt’s little sister. Almost exactly two years younger than he, she lived to be nearly 100. Like Walt, she maintained a great affection for the town where they both spent more than five years of their early childhoods.
After she died, her son Ted and his wife inherited a treasure trove of letters, clippings and other artifacts Ruth had carefully kept throughout her life. They made a gift of this material to the Walt Disney Hometown Museum which is located in the Santa Fe Depot just off the Square. Rush Johnson, his wife Inez and daughter Kaye Malins have taken the lead in transforming the Depot into a wonderful place for Disney fans to find information about Walt’s family and life, much of which is available nowhere else.
Marceline is full of great Disney history including the family home and a recreation of the barn which was on the farm. Kaye and Wally Malins live in the Disney home and they are extremely generous and gracious hosts. Their home is not open to the public, but the barn and the nearby “dreaming tree” where Walt and Ruth watered horses and mules from a spring which still flows are always open to true believers in Disney magic.
Walt returned to Marceline many times. His last visit was in October of 1960 when he came back to dedicate the newly-constucted Walt Disney Elementary School. He gave the school many gifts including original studio-produced artwork which still hangs in the hall and multi-purpose gymnasium. What is said to be Walt’s own grade school desk from the old Park Elementary school which he and Ruth attended is displayed in the main hall. Even when the school is not open, these items can be viewed through the windows.
Walt also gave the school a flagpole from the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley where he was in charge of “pagentry”. Two identical flagpoles are on the grounds of the Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, right outside of the commisary.
In July, 1966 Walt gave Marceline the Midget Autopia attraction from Disneyland, the only time a Disneyland ride has operated outside the park. Although it is not operating at this time, the track and queue shelter are still in place and one of the ride vehicles is on display in the Museum.
During Walt’s 100th birthday celebration in 2001 and each year since, I have taken my TWA Moonliner to Marceline for Toonfest. It is a 30-foot replica of the original Disneyland Moonliner which stood in Tomorrowland from 1955 through 1966 and which was recreated in 1998 for the new Tomorrowland in California. My rocket was built to be the crowning glory of a new TWA office building in downtown Kansas City when Howard Hughes owned the airline which was headquartered there. We put the rocket between Ripley Square and the Disney Museum, where it serves a function similar to the original. It is a “weenie,” a visual attraction which draws visitors toward that area of the town.
Less than two years after Walt’s death in 1966, the U. S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring him. Marceline won the competition to be the site of the First Day of Issue Ceremony. The entire Disney family, including Roy and Edna Disney and all of Walt’s and Roy’s grandchildren, attended the event. Photos of it and a plaque noting the event are displayed at the Post Office which was renamed for Walt only a few months ago, pursuant to an act of Congress.
As he introduced his new film to the children of the community in 1956, he said, “I lived in Marceline. My best memories are the years I spent here. You children are lucky to live here.”
Editor’s note: Dan Viets is the author of arguably one of the better Disney history books to be published in the past few years, “Walt Disney’s Missouri: The Roots of a Creative Genius.” So if you’d like to learn more about Walt’s formative days in Marceline & Kansas City (Not to mention detailed information about Disney’s aborted indoor theme park project, “Riverboat Square”), then I urge you to pick up a copy.