ELDON — Grant Wood’s American Gothic painting will come alive today at the annual Gothic Days celebration.

The new American Gothic House Visitor’s Center will officially open.

The town made famous by the classic painting will host its annual Gothic Days this weekend. Festivities start off with an open arts and crafts display near the Eldon park at 9 a.m.

“There is a lot more variety of arts and crafts this year,” said Gothic Area Tourism of Eldon President Shirley Stacey. “I think this will be one of our bigger years.”

At 10 a.m., patrons will gather downtown for the annual Gothic Days Parade, which will include actors portraying the characters from the American Gothic Painting. This year’s grand marshals, Martha and Jim Bedford, also will be riding in the parade.

“We chose them as the grand marshals because they do so much for this community. There is hardly an event you won’t see them at,” Stacey said. “They are real pillars of the community.”

The official grand opening of the center will be at 1:30 p.m. After some guest speakers and a dedication of the center, folks will have a chance to explore the center and browse the memorabilia.

Brenda Kremer, a volunteer who has helped with the project, said everyone is very excited to see that it has finally happened. About 400 invitations were sent to people who contributed time, money or efforts to the project.

This weekend is also the Eldon Alumni Weekend.

“We expect around 500 people for the event,” Kremer said.

“We expect to get a lot more people this year with the visitor’s center opening,” Stacey said.

During the opening of the exhibit there will be entertainment provided by local artists, the Lowly Brass Band.

To handle the parking, visitor’s center committee members and the GATE members have arranged for a shuttle bus to do pickups from the Wapello County Fairgrounds.

“This will make things much easier and less hectic for people so they can just enjoy the day,” Kremer said.

Visitors will have a shot at winning some prize money in the cardboard box races that start about 3:30 p.m. at the fairgrounds.