People living on the coasts or in major metropolitan areas of this country think that they're the only people with interesting things happening where they live, but they've obviously never had a front-row seat to a good old-fashioned sign war in a Midwestern town.

I don't think it would change their minds one bit, but I had to try.

This particular sign war is taking place (even as you read this) in a place called Marshfield, Missouri, a town of about 7500 people, and it all got started when the local McDonald's challenged the local Dairy Queen by putting this up on their sign-board:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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If You've Heard The Term "That Escalated Quickly," You'll Understand What Happened Here

As we've seen here in the Rockford area with places like Lindstrom Travel (they're located at the corner of Mulford and Guilford) and their clever signage, local people enjoy a good-natured sign duel.

So, Dairy Queen entered the fray with this:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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What would a sign war with McDonald's be without taking a shot at their seemingly always out-of-order ice cream machines? It wouldn't be as much fun...especially to those who've been denied their much-craved McFlurry because of an ice cream machine that's on the fritz.

At this point, McDonald's knew that this sign war was most definitely on, so it was their turn to chirp this:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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Suddenly, This Sign War Was Joined By Additional Local Combatants

As we've learned in the past, sometimes conflicts spill over into other areas causing escalations. In this case, the newest participant in the battle was a local bank:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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Which prompted the Dairy Queen to issue a threat:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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Then McDonald's fired back, but ended up getting blasted for it:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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The bank, seeing the potential for business, was quick to throw this into the conversation:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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Then, two newcomers jumped in with what they consider to be better offers:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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Maybe fried ice cream would be better than what Mickey D's and DQ are offering up:

Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Facebook
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There's a lot more to this full-scale sign war that's threatening to tear the state of Missouri apart, but I'm pretty much out of time and space here, so click this for more.

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