Apparently, while all the Hobo festivities were going down this year in Britt, many were up to no good. In my recent talk with current Hobo king, “Inkman”, he gave me some bad news…at least from the sinner’s camp perspective.

To give you the background: the National Hobo Convention is held every year in Britt, IA…for over 100 years. You can imagine it was much more vibrant and hobo-esque when it began, with many true hobos riding the rails searching for work. They’d stop in here for a week or relaxation with old friends and people they only see once or twice a year. While that still hangs true, most of the people at the convention are not hobos in the ‘true’ sense of the word – meaning they are a wandering worker, eeking out a living hopping trains from town to town, attempting to find work or the good graces of a generous housewife. Most there now are those who appreciate the hobo culture, hobo music, hobo terms and hobo ideals (at least, in a white-washed, polished fashion).

And then there is the ‘other side of the tracks’. In the middle of the hobo jungle in Britt is a boxcar. It sits on a fake set of tracks and is genuinely displayed as a sign of the hobo history. On one side of those tracks is what I spoke of above – good clean fun. Hobo songs, the hobo fire, townspeople and guests watching the ‘official’ events of the convention. On the other side is what is lovingly referred to as ‘sinner’s camp’. It’s where rail riders and veterans convene. It’s where alcohol is allowed. It’s where stories from the road are told. It’s where the living spirit of the hobo is displayed.

Unfortunately, it’s also where the fights happen. The dogs poop. People are drunk. And apparently, this year, it was worse than ever. People fighting, pissing in the boxcar, they played loud music all night long, some were doing drugs. It was tolerated, for some reason. And now the iron hand of the law has come down upon them. Below is a letter from the Mayor of Britt, detailing his disgust with this year’s convention and laying down the law for future conventions.

To me, this is partly disappointing. It’s disappointing because Vern and I went to the convention in 2007 to discover the true soul of the hobo–what we found is not what we wanted to see. Apparently, the drunks have taken over the rails, disrespectful kids have taken to the rails, hating their parents and society. And now they have brought that angst to the convention, and ruined it for the majority of those old timers who want to come, enjoy themselves, have a drink and see old friends. It’s a tough world, and they made it tougher. Hobos are only accepted in one place at one time for the entire year, now they have to jump thru hoops to get there. Thanks so much, loud, drunken druggies. Next time go to a Rainbow Gathering.

(What follows in the Mayor’s statement. For more info, go to www.hobo.com)

Opinion by the Mayor of Britt, Iowa Britt News Tribune 8/19/09

Thanks to Stretch for transcribing

Another National Hobo Convention has come and gone and I feel some comments need to be made. There were some highlights of this year’s event and there were some lowlights. In this letter, I am going to address mostly the lowlights.

I did not get a chance to spend nearly as much time in the Jungle this year as I usually do. Most years I get down there for a couple of hours each night and enjoy the jamming of the musicians as well as the time spent reminiscing with old friends and acquaintances. Judging from the time I did spend there this year, I would say it was the worst Jungle that has been here in probably 12 years.

After talking to several of the old hobos and the “hobos-at-heart”-and after seeing what I did see in the Jungle-I have come to the conclusion that most, if not all, of the problems come from what is referred to as the “sinner’s camp”. That camp is pretty much made up of those that call themselves tramps, not hobos. There were more tramps here this year than ever before and more of those tramps had dogs. One of the problems was that the tramps started moving in two weeks before Hobo Days and that’s not going to happen anymore.

I will give the older hobos and musicians a lot of credit for their hospitality and patience. It just seems like the tramps were here to party and did not care at all about the celebration, the history and what exactly it is that we try to do each Hobo Convention. I have always been a proponent of keeping the Hobo Convention going but I also have always said that we are celebrating the true hobo-the hobo who went from town to town on the railroad and worked where he or she could and welcomed a little soap and water when it was offered to them. Those hobos rode the rails out of necessity. I am also not naive enough to not know that riding the rails got in many a hobo’s blood and many of them changed things a bit and worked long enough to be able to ride the rails for a while and then worked long enough to start the cycle over. Those people are why there is a National Hobo Convention; we don’t want to make it the National Tramp Convention.

It is my understanding that some of the tramps helped paint the bathrooms and I thank them for that. I also want to say that I am sure that the problems I am going to address in this letter are not because of all tramps, there were probably those that behaved themselves but I don’t think there were too many of them.

The tramps were allowed to camp here in the city Hobo Jungle and were allowed to stay in the boxcar. They thanked us by using our Jungle to party with alcohol and drugs and by using the boxcar as not only a bedroom but a latrine. We will now once again have to keep the box care locked and there will be NO SINNER’S CAMP. They also had a lot of dogs that were not conducive to a family atmosphere. One of the fights at the Jungle started when one of the tramps refused to pickup up his dog’s excrement. There will now be no dogs allowed in the Jungle (except in the campers), on the main street, midway and flea market nor in the city hall park.

The tramps were allowed to take part in the evening activities including the entertainment. They thanked those that let them participate by using their electric guitars and amplified sound until 3-4 a.m. They also saw fit to sing a few songs with vulgar profanity in them and one tramp thought it a good idea to drop his trousers in front of the audience. The amplified sound will now be turned off early and vulgarity and profanity will be met with expulsion.

The use of alcohol and drugs in the city park and surrounding areas will not be allowed. We will confiscate all visible alcohol next year and we will have a drug dog take at least one daily trip through the Hobo Jungle and campsites. Our officers this year found that many of the tramps that they were having problems with also had outstanding warrants in other areas of the country. For that reason we will probably have the hobos and tramps register when they come into town and those with outstanding warrants will NOT be welcome. There will be a law officer present at all times next year in the Jungle and surrounding camp areas.

In conclusion, I again want to say that all are welcome to come to Britt to celebrate the hobo and elect a hobo king and hobo queen. I urge more local residents to come to the coronation and help elect those that will help us remember the hobo and represent Britt and the Convention well throughout the country in their travels. This has always been and will always be a National Hobo Convention. All are welcome, but all are expected to obey the rules and laws and it doesn’t hurt to shower on an almost daily basis: I heard some children remark on the smell and when a small child notices, something is wrong.

I have had several of the older hobos that have been coming here for years tell me that something has to be done or they will not be coming anymore. It is THEM we are celebrating and you can bet that something is going to be done. I ask all of those that attend this convention to please think about all of this and come next year ready to celebrate legally in a family-oriented celebration.

The Britt City Council will be addressing this issue in the next meeting in September. As the mayor of this community, I apologize for what went on in the Jungle this year, but you can bet that it will NOT be tolerated next year.

The restrictions are basically as follows:

1.Boxcar will closed and locked.

2.No Sinner’s Camp.

3. No dogs allowed on the park grounds

4. No loud music or vulgarity allowed.

5. No drugs or alcohol will be tolerated.

6.all alcohol will be confiscated and there will be a drug dog making daily trips through Jungle.

7.Hobos will need to register to camp on jungle, anyone with outstanding warrants will not be allowed.

8. 24 hour police presence.