As the downpour lessened, umbrellas shielded patrons from a steady drizzle as they watched the Art's Alive in Pacific players perform.

The young actors portrayed early Pacific personalities in the children's play "Pacific the Early Years," which included settlers' excitement at the arrival of the railroad and its impact on the community.

Shirley Hillhouse wrote and directed the historical play and provided period costumes for the young actors.

When several players failed to show for the acting-in-the-rain performance, Presiding Commissioner Ed Hillhouse was recruited to play one of the parts and some of the young actors filled in, playing two parts.

Musicians took to the stage for two hours of country and bluegrass music.

Monica Mahler, event chair, could be seen visiting the refreshment booths operated by the Boy Scouts and the Knights of Columbus, as well as the booths offering items and exhibits.

Members of the Meramec Valley Genealogical & Historical Society and the Meramec Valley Historical Museum used plastic sheets to protect their displays from the drizzle.

Patrons stepped around puddles to get close to the blacksmith demonstration. At the wood sawmill demonstration, workers put logs onto the mobile sawmill, removed the bark, cut a square center and ran the log along the carrier, along across a band saw, to create new planks.

Antique tractors lined the back fence line of Pacific Station Plaza.

Jim Schwinkendorf, Partnership past president, narrated visits to the BNSF caboose, which was recently painted for the event.

It was Schwinkendorf, a retired BNSF executive, who arranged for the caboose's donation to the city. The bright green and yellow office car was the final caboose manufactured for BNSF.

The popular riding history tours in downtown Pacific offered patrons a ride along the streets of the old town, pointing out the sites of Civil War cannon fire, a fabled stage coach stop and former department stores and family retail shops.

Two history tours of historic Pacific were provided. Pauline Masson narrated a description of the area immediately around Pacific Station Plaza prior to the railroad shopmen's strike of 1922. Masson has been researching the strike, which was responsible for the removal of the Missouri Pacific Railroad repair shops from Pacific, including its turntable and roundhouse.

Bill McLaren narrated a tour segment on the sand caves and icehouse of Pacific. Patrons were treated to an added element of excitement by the sudden onset of hail just as McLaren began to talk on the icehouse.

History in motion also was available through free steam train movies that were played in the McHugh-Dailey building next to the plaza.

The annual rail heritage festival is held in September of each year in Pacific Station Plaza, which is under development by the Pacific Partnership as a train-watching venue.

Carpenters and painters put the finishing touches on the Pacific Station Plaza pavilion restrooms, which were open to the public for the first time for the festival.

There is no admission to the community event, which is designed to increase knowledge of the history of the Missouri Pacific and BNSF railroads and the parts they played in the development of the community.

The Pacific Partnership sponsors the Railroad Festival. Event co-chairs were Ron Sansone, Legion beer garden; Jenny Devine, opening ceremony; Sheila Steelman, speakers; Loyd Harris, music; Bill McLaren, infrastructure and railroad movies; Duke Matlock, children's games; Neva Bagwell, children's games; Brenda Wiesehan, promotional signs; Fran Kopsky, Chamber signs; and Don Hazelwood, food vendors.