EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) – As mysteriously as a camper appeared earlier this summer on the pump out in the middle of the Ohio River, the second coming of the Tristate Camper Caper has mysteriously occurred on Evansville’s west side during the Fall Festival.
Or, as passerby James Baughn puts it, “The saloon lives on”!
It’s a new twist on an instant classic; a second mysterious camper is again making headlines in the River City, just months after a separate camper was placed on the sandbar in the Ohio.
“I just thought it was kind of funny to see it live again,” says Baughn.
Labeled as the second version of the original “Saloon”, the camper is parked outside of Damsel Brew Pub, and quickly became the talking point of the west side.
“It may be an Evansville tradition now, the Saloon,” says Baughn. “They may make a bar out of it, or something.”
Rosetta Feistel and Lisa Crafton even wore customer camper apparel to the festival, unaware of the placement of this second camper. Feistel and Crafton took time to reflect on the original camper from earlier in 2022.
“It was interesting,” says Feistel. “It was funny, it brightened my day,” adds Crafton. “Seeing it on the news and how it got there, it was just mysterious, and I loved it.”
Just like it was in the Summer, the legend of the Camper Caper is holding strong during the Fall.
“I think even the first one was all in good fun, I mean, I know it was a nightmare for the Coast Guard probably, but it was all in good fun,” says Baughn.
Crafton adds, “How can anything be bad when it makes them laugh and brightens their day?”