Downtown Peace Park and Peace Nook (book store).
On May 5th 1971, around 1,500 people gathered in McAlester Park and marched together for peace. Businesses closed in honor. They ended back in the park for a re-dedication ceremony: naming the space “Peace Park.” It included speeches, a rally, and then an all-night rock concert in the park. “It’s dedicated to a concept that’s not that foreign – a simple but elusive notion of peace.”
Very cool riverfront nights, locals are kind, small communes everywhere very green year round, local music scene is huge.
Wikipedia notes: “The town of Cape Girardeau was incorporated in 1808, prior to Missouri statehood. It was reincorporated as a city in 1843. The advent of the steamboat in 1835 and related river trade stimulated the development of Cape Girardeau as the biggest port on the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee.”