This city has not one but two museums dedicated to its past. Independence Historical Museum has a large collection of valuable antiques and unique artwork. The Little House on the Prairie TV program was based on stories by Laura Ingalls of her childhood on the prairie. A little over 10 miles to the Southwest of Independence you can find the Little House on the Prairie Museum near the original site where she spent her childhood. The museum is an authentic log cabin. Each June, the Prairie Days Festival is held at this museum. The celebration includes re-enactments from the Little House on the Prairie stories, food, crafts, a character contest, petting zoo and wagon rides on the prairie.
Riverside Park, covering over 120 acres is a great place to take the family. It has playgrounds, shelter houses, a miniature golf course, carousel, a miniature train, swimming pool, fairgrounds and Shulthis Stadium. In addition to all of that the park is the site of the Ralph Mitchell Zoo in which over 300 species of animals live in a natural habitat

Judges

Hon. William J. Kelly