AUXVASSE, Mo. - Half a century ago, the peanuts would've come in hefty gunny sacks, according to longtime Auxvasse Loafer's Week participant Donal Knipp.
Today, they're more likely to come from Sam's Club. But the shells still crunch underfoot, and folks still sit around shooting the breeze.
"We'd try to leave them on the floor the whole week, though we'd sweep them up if they got too deep," Knipp said.
He was there 57 years ago at the first Loafer's Week, started by a pair of friends at the grain elevator to give farmers something to do at the end of winter.
"When they started it, it was because of the farmers," Sue Knipp said. "It was their downtime before spring plowing."
The tradition now serves as an excuse for neighbors and former neighbors to get together and chat - and enjoy some tasty food. At first it was just coffee and peanuts, Sue said, but eventually people started bringing doughnuts. Now, local charity groups and organizations provide daily lunches for a small price, which serves as a fundraiser.
"Once they started having meals, it became a community thing," Sue said.
On Tuesday, she was there with Mexico's Relay for Life team. She said they had served lunch to about 50 people so far.
"My sisters and I started coming a few years ago," Alma Beasley said. "We just like to come over and eat and see who we can remember."
Though she now lives in Centralia, Beasley grew up in Auxvasse and still has many friends here.
"I come for the fellowship," Chuck Ball said. "I enjoy a bit of cards and eat some peanuts."
He and eight of his friends from Mexico were gathered around playing a cutthroat game of cards. Empty peanut shells lay in a tidy heap on the floor next to some of the players.
Even those who don't consider themselves lifelong Auxvasse residents find a community during Loafer's Week.
Jackie Burton said he hasn't been in Auxvasse for very long. He moved to town in 1984.
"I've seen the highway go through and the other one go around, and that's helped the town quite a bit," he said.
The town certainly has changed since the early days of Loafer's Week. The grain elevator where the tradition began has since burned down.
"All these buildings (on Main Street) - there used to be businesses in all of them and now there aren't," Donal Knipp said.
Burton was sitting next to Ruth Logerman, who remembers the first Loafer's Week but didn't attend because at the time she was busy with three kids.
"I started coming in the '70s," she said.
Now, Burton is part of the local Lions Club and much more involved in the community.
"We don't play cards or nothing," he said. "We loaf a little and tell lies to each other."
"We tell stories," Logerman interjected.
"Oh, that's what they are," Burton said.
Donal hopes some of the younger generation of Auxvasse residents - the ones who live in town but work elsewhere - come to future Loafer's Weeks. Locals, visiting friends and those who've moved but left their hearts in Auxvasse get to come together and experience community pride.
"Small communities don't have a lot of things going on," Donal said.
Today, the noon meal will be prepared by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Free peanuts and drinks can be enjoyed from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. every day this week. The Auxvasse Community Center, 117 S. Main St., is also having a 50/50 raffle to help maintain the building.