In Wednesday's Edition of Branson Globe...

Pomp in unusual circumstances: pandemic doesn’t stop Class of 2020

By Brenda Meadows Staff Writer

At 9 a.m. Saturday, August 1 the Branson High School Graduating Class of 2020 walked onto the Pirates Football field for the last time. It was the graduation that almost didn’t happen. The ceremony took place months after the actual graduation date that had been scheduled in May.

Graduating seniors expected they would complete their last year after a couple of weeks when

schools announced they were closing due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Students just did their assignments from home and waited for the date they would return to classes as scheduled. Those hopes were squelched when the pandemic spread, and it became necessary to close schools completely. For the seniors, the closure included cancelling proms, graduations and traditional activities associated with the last year of high school.

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A gang of Baldknobbers make their way along a trail during a production of The Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Drama.

theshepherdofthehills.com

The Shepherd of the Hills hosts 60th anniversary show August 8

by Karen Halfpop, Digital/Production Director

The trail that is nobody knows how old has been winding through Ozark Mountain Country and into the imaginations of visitors from all over the world as The Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Drama. This summer, that production celebrates its sixtieth anniversary with a special show at 8:30 pm, August 8, in the Old Mill Theatre.

According to a release, the Old Mill Theatre opened to guests for the first time on August 6, 1960. That first night, the production boasted 35 actors and “a handful of horses.” Today, that show casts 90 actors, sharing a football field-sized stage with horses, mules, donkeys and sheep. They all work together to bring the 1907 novel The Shepherd of the Hills to life in the very same location where the story was written by Harold Bell Wright.

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Former Dogpatch USA property in Newton County, Arkansas.

Submitted to Branson Globe

Bass Pro founder commits to preserve historic Dogpatch property as a nature experience for future generations to enjoy

SPRINGFIELD, MO – Noted conservationist and Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris today announced the purchase of the former Dogpatch USA theme park property, a beautiful 400-acre natural setting, in northern Arkansas’ Newton County.

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