From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 7, 1986:

The final day of the Independence Days festival had coincided with heavy rains which kept the crowd down to only about 3,500. Total attendance for the three-day event was estimated at about 27,000, the highest in the festival’s four-year history. As part of the final day, Lawrence’s longtime politician and radio executive Arden Booth introduced the participants in a show of political speeches. Charles Higginson of Lawrence portrayed Kansas’ first governor, Charles Robinson, with a speech set in 1861. Real-time governor John Carlin followed with a speech on the future faced by modern Kansans.