JACKSON -- Carnival rides and concession stands beckoned and the World Safari booth promised "Real Live Giant Lizards" and "Silent Death From Around the World" as Homecomers 1996 opened Tuesday night.

A highlight of opening night was the unveiling of Jackson's first mural, located on the Clabaugh Building on High Street.

Herb Wickham, chairman of the city's mural committee, did the honors, assisted by his wife Nancy.

As Wickham, Mayor Paul Sander, mural designer Grant Lund and other dignitaries gathered on the bandstand, Nancy Wickham waited on the upper floor of the Clabaugh Building to cut the rope and let the tarpaulins slide off the new mural.

There was a slight glitch when the rope wouldn't quite cut, and the tarp didn't slide as far as it should have, but that didn't dampen the crowd's spirit.

"She's having troubled cutting the rope," Herb Wickham announced, and then a few seconds later, "I don't know what it means, but Andrew Jackson is still covered up."

The mural features a prominent portrait of the controversial president, for whom the city was named in 1814.

Wickham said a "very vocal group" of settlers newly arrived from the Carolinas campaigned long and hard to have the town named after Andrew Jackson, "and it was named after him a half a year before his famous battle at New Orleans."

Jackson, Mo., was the first community named after the president, Wickham said.

The Jackson Municipal Band also performed Tuesday night to entertain the crowd.

Crowds pour into the uptown area for the annual festival, first held in 1908. Homecomers, sponsored by Jackson American Legion Post 158, draws an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people yearly.

The annual talent show will start tonight at 8 p.m., with the winners chosen Friday night.

On Saturday night, the Miss Jackson Homecomers pageant will start at 7:30 p.m.

Jackson residents Danielle Nagel, 8, and her mother, Linda, headed uptown Tuesday night to enjoy the celebration.

Danielle's goal for opening night was "to ride the Tilt-A-Whirl. And I want to find a friend to play with."

"We come mainly just to see the people up here and let the kids ride and have a good time," Linda Nagel said.