Missouri Life April/May 2015

[ FAR M - FR E S H S PR ING R EC I PE S

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BICYCLE ACROSS MISSOURI]

THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY

The Pioneer Village o Heirloom Seed Company

APRIL 2015 | $4.50

The Saga of the Bald Knobbers

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(Display until May 31)

Follow Our Northwest Passage

AUTHOR, SOLDIER, LEADER ERIC GREITENS ML0415_Cover_AB_1.indd 1

www.missourilife.com

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Contents APRIL 2015

[118] BAKERSVILLE Venture to the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in Mansfield for a pioneer experience.

featured >

[28] MISSOURI MUSIC Although nobody knew his name, the American music press fell in love with the Scottish transplant.

[32] MISSOURI ARTIST Kansas City artist Matthew Dehaemers creates temporary interactive installations for a reason.

[94] SHOW-ME HOMES JJ’s Folly outside of Fayette is the product of a determined Missourian trying to execute his dream.

[112] OVER THE LINE For the first time, Missouri Life is covering things outside of the state. See what made us cross the line.

special features >

[124] SPRING RECIPES

[38] MUSIC LOVERS UNITE

What’s ready to harvest in your garden? Asparagus?

Arugula? Try these recipes made for the season.

Ragtime will fill the air in Sedalia. Curryville will host bluegrass greats. The people of Kansas City will dance all night long. It’s music festival season in Missouri.

[54] PLAYING FOR BLOOD What started as a group of concerned citizens looking for justice quickly de-

COURTESY OF BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY

volved into a gang of masked marauders. Follow the saga of the Bald Knobbers.

[60] THE TOWN THAT MOVED

special section > [48] NIGHTLIFE GUIDE

what it’s like to live in the town that was abandoned by itself.

Nightlife thrives across the state. See everything fun to do when the sun goes down over Missouri.

[64] STORIES OF RESILIENCE

[69] BIG BAM

Navy SEAL, author, nonprofit founder, White House fellow, Rhodes Scholar: Eric Greitens has worn many hats during his meteoric career. What will come next?

Welcome to the annual Big BAM (Bicycle Across Missouri). See our route, and discover all the fun.

[88] EXPLORE THE GREAT NORTHWEST

[97] OUTDOOR GUIDE

In the vast beauty of the Great Plains, St. Joseph and the Remington Nature

Here comes the sun. Explore the great outdoors after this long, cold, lonely winter.

The entire town of Pattonsburg has relocated a total of three times. Discover

Center interpret the region’s history and look toward the future.

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Contents

CONTENT BY LOCATION

APRIL 2015

88 42 22 60 94 126 43 19, 32, 24, 45, 47 40, 43, 21 26, 40, 46 46 26 39, 44 126, 46

departments > [14] MEMO

[22] MADE IN MISSOURI

Danita shares the soundtrack of her life

Meet a Native American basket maker,

at the risk of dating herself, and Greg

an Ozarks woodcarver, and the Willy

describes his accident and desire for

Wonka of dairy.

22 40

19, 26, 28, 47, 64, 126 42

44

41 118

54,41

44

22

our roads to be safer for cyclists.

[24] SHOW-ME BOOKS [16] LETTERS

An up-and-coming Missouri author tells

A reader shares her Beatles story, and

a mysterious coming of age tale.

[133] ALL AROUND MISSOURI

another tells us how she shares the

Who says there’s nothing to do? We’ve

[117] MUSINGS ON MISSOURI

magazine with others.

got 133 thing for you to do this spring.

Ron Marr is a racist. Those are his

[19] MO MIX

[146] MISSOURIANA

words, not ours.

Discover the Forest Park owls,

Read yet another great Mark Twain

Guy, a cook’s paradise in Kansas City,

[126] DINING WORTH THE DRIVE

and the newest World War II exhibit

Venture inside Jefferson City’s legend-

at the Harry S. Truman Library and

ary tavern, a tasty Moberly meat haunt,

Museum in Independence.

and the best new place to get seafood.

Missouri’s own Bill Nye the Science

quote and some other fascinating facts.

– THIS ISSUE –

On the Web

Sign up for Missouri Lifelines, our free e-newsletter, and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/MissouriLife or on Twitter @MissouriLife.

MISSOURIANA ANIMATED

MORE SPRING RECIPES

This video takes you inside a day at Harold’s in

We hope you love the riveting Missouri trivia

Enjoy our recipes? Join us online for many

Columbia, where the day starts before the sun

we provide in each issue. Now, see these mor-

more delicious recipes created just for spring-

rises and ends when the last doughnut sells.

sels come to life in these original animations.

time in the Show-Me State.

Spring Reading

Check out all of our books and back issues on MissouriLife.com. And you might want to get a hat if you’re planning on reading outside in the sun.

on the cover> CHECK OUT THE ’56 CHEVY Captured by the photography staff at the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, this photo encapsulates the spirt of Bakersville—a pioneer village from a bygone era, except for owner Jere Gettle’s prized salmon pink 1956 Chevy Bel Air.

JILLIAN VONDY, ANDREW BARTON, AND HARRY KATZ

DOUGHNUT DOCUMENTARY

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FAMILIES WHO

Play Together, STAY TOGETHER.

Silver Dollar City

Slide down mountains. Zoom around turns. Explore dark caverns. Fly through the air. Make memories that last. With good, clean fun for miles, it’s all smiles.

877-BRANSON ExploreBranson.com

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Photo courtesy of: Christina Morrow Photo courtesy of Pam Thomeczek

www.visitmarshallmo.com

Follow Jim’s tracks to historic downtown Marshall. The Marshall Welcome Center and Jim the Wonder Dog Museum at 101 N. Lafayette is open for the season! All you need to know about what to see and do while you’re visiting is right here. Open Tuesday through Sunday, we can help you plan your time in Marshall and the surrounding area.

The museum features artifacts about Jim and a video system that tells the story of Jim and the attractions in the area. Visit www. jimthewonderdog.org or call 660-886-8300.

Photo courtesy of Eric Crump

Photo Edited by Poole Communications

Photo courtesy of Stan Moore

Come welcome the season on May 16 in Downtown Marshall at Spring Fling. Beginning at 9:00 a.m. and continuing until 4:00 p.m. there will be vendors on the Courthouse lawn with everything you need to get your home ready inside and out for the warm weather. If you arrive early, you can watch or take part in the Rotary Club Basketball Shootout at 8:00 a.m. Everyone loves a parade and you will be able to watch the always entertaining Shriners with their fun cars and motorcycles at 11:00 a.m.

And 11:00 a.m. is when all the activities – dog show, hot-dog eating, and other contests – kick off at Jim the Wonder Dog Day northwest of the Square. This is a day packed full of fun for everyone. To find out more visit www.marshallmochamber.com or call 660-886-3324.

Photo courtesy of Stan Moore

The Bob James Jazz Festival returns to Marshall for the 5th consecutive year on May 23. The theme of this year’s concert is “Marshall is Music”. Audience members will be taken through the rich musical history of our fine town with performances by Marshall natives Bob James and the Morton Sisters. The performance begins at 6:00 p.m. at Bueker Middle School in the Harold L. Lickey Auditorium.

Admission is free. Plan now to attend this extraordinary evening of musical entertainment. To find out about other performers, visit www.bobjamesjazzfest.org or call 660-815-3664.

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M r e M s a s 6

Photo courtesy of: Christina Morrow

Upcoming Events April 5 – Easter Parade and Egg Hunt – Main Street, Arrow Rock – 2:00 p. m. – www.arrowrock.org or 660-837-3231 April 6 – Marshall Philharmonic Concert featuring Richard Marshall on the trombone – Bueker Middle School Auditorium – 2:30 p.m. – www.marshallphilharmonic.org or 660-886-5853 April 6 – Marshall Bowhunters 3-D Archery Tournament – Indian Foothills Park – 8:00 a.m. www.marshallbowhunters.com or 660-886-2714

Photo courtesy of Pam Thomeczek

April 12 – Marshall Community Chorus Spring Concert – Covenant Presbyterian Church – 3:00 p.m. www.marshallcommunitychorus.org April 24 -- Chocolate Festival -- Martin Community Center 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. -- www.marshallmochamber.com or 660-886-3324 May 9 -- Marshall Market on the Square -- 8:00 a.m. - Noon, Saturdays -- Marshall Market on the Square on Facebook or 660-886-3324

Make sure your next visit to Marshall includes a tour of the Nicholas Beazley Aviation Museum, conveniently located at 1985 S. Odell, adjacent to the Martin Community Center. The museum has something for all ages, including a children’s area, military glider, models, flight simulator, and much more.

Individuals and groups are welcome and school field trips are encouraged. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. or by special appointment. Visit www.nicholasbeazley.org or call 660-886-2630 for more information.

Marshall Spring Fling May 16, 2015

Photo courtesy of Sharon Hoeflicker

e ’s e ith

May 9 – Garden Market and Vintage Bazaar – Old Schoolhouse, Arrow Rock – 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. www.arrowrock.org or 660-837-3231

m.

Photo courtesy of Stan Moore

er

Marshall is home to the perfect venue for meetings, parties, receptions and trade shows. The Martin Community Center is easily accessible at 1985 S. Odell and features ample parking.

Moveable interior walls allow you to select just the size area to suit your needs for groups of 50 to 500. Our staff is happy to assist you with planning. Let us help you create your perfect special occasion. Visit www.nicholasbeazley.org or call 660-886-2630 for more information.

Photo courtesy of Stan Moore

Visit the Marshall Welcome Center on the northwest corner of the Square, open March through mid-December.

Plan to stay with us in Marshall: Comfort Inn – Marshall Station 1356 W. College Ave. 660-886-8080 www.comfortinn.com Super 8 of Marshall 1355 W. College Ave. 660-886-3359 www.super8.com Claudia’s B & B 3000 W. Arrow St. 660-886-5285

Kitty’s Corner Guest Houses 228 E. North St. 660-886-8445 Courthouse Lofts 23 N. Lafayette St. 660-229-5644 Marshall Lodge 1333 W. Vest St. 660-886-2326 www.marshall-lodge.com

Scan this QR code to visit our website!

www.visitmarshallmo.com [9] April 2015

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THE SPIR IT OF DISCOV ERY 501 High Street, Ste. A, Boonville, MO 65233 660-882-9898 | Info@MissouriLife.com

Publisher Greg Wood Editor in Chief Danita Allen Wood EDITORIAL & ART Managing Editor Jonas Weir Creative Director Andrew Barton Art Director Sarah Herrera Special Projects Editor Nichole L. Ballard Associate Art Director Thomas Sullivan Graphic Designer and Staff Photographer Harry Katz Calendar Editor Amy Stapleton Administrative Assistant Karen Cummins Copy Editor Alex Stewart Editorial Assistants Elissa Chudwin, Lakshna Mehta, Jillian Vondy Contributing Writers Taylor Fox, Kathy Gangwisch, Lisa Waterman Gray, Abigail Holman, Susan Katzmann, T.S. Leonard, Wade Livingston, Martin W. Schwartz, Ron Soodalter, Carolyn Tomlin Columnist Ron W. Marr, W. Arthur Mehrhoff Contributing Photographers George Denniston, Kathy Gangwisch, Seth Garcia, Notley Hawkins, Abigail Holman, Angelique Hunter, Mike Kellner, Randy Kirby, David Mann MARKETING •800-492-2593 Advertising Director Marynell Christenson Sales Manager Mike Kellner Advertising & Marketing Consultant Brent Toellner Advertising & Marketing Consultant Mimi Gatschet Sales Account Executive Paula Renfrow Sales Account Executive Gretchen Fuhrman Advertising Coordinator Jenny Johnson Circulation Manager Amy Stapleton DIGITAL MEDIA MissouriLife.com, Missouri eLife, Facebook, Twitter Director Jonas Weir Editor Sarah Herrera Missouri Lifelines Harry Katz TO SUBSCRIBE OR GIVE A GIFT AND MORE Use your credit card and visit MissouriLife.com or call 800-492-2593, ext. 101 or mail a check for $19.99 (for 6 issues) to: Missouri Life, 501 High Street, Ste. A, Boonville, MO 65233-1211 Change address Visit MissouriLife.com OTHER INFORMATION Custom Publishing For your special publications, call 800-492-2593, ext. 106 or email Greg.Wood@MissouriLife.com.

Back Issues Order from website, call, or send check for $7.50.

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COZY UP

TO PROPANE THERE’S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO INSTALL A PROPANE FURNACE. When your furnace is powered by propane, your family enjoys unmatched comforts that only gas appliances can provide. Besides reducing your overall energy costs, propane-powered furnaces are proven to provide warmer air delivery and reduce CO2 emissions by half when compared with electric heat pumps. And with the state incentive available now, you can’t afford not to add a propane furnace to your home.

Talk to your propane provider about a $250 rebate on a new propane furnace, or visit moperc.org/for-homes for more information.

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YOU DESERVE

BETTER HOT WATER. THE SOONER YOU INSTALL A PROPANE WATER HEATER, THE SOONER YOU’LL ENJOY THE BENEFITS. The comfortable, consistent hot water and significant cost savings of a propane water heater are second to none…and you deserve the best, right? You’ll use less energy, save money, and reduce your carbon footprint compared with electric units. But don’t wait to install a new, energy-efficient propane model. Over time, the performance of any water heater diminishes, and that means you could be wasting energy and incurring unnecessarily high costs.

Talk to your propane provider about a $250 rebate on a new propane hot water heater installation, or visit moperc.org/for-homes for more information.

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emo

ONE MORE REASON FOR BIG BAM

THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE

LAST SUMMER, Danita and I were biking on the Katy Trail near McBaine when I decided to take a detour on a paved road that passes by the biggest bur oak in the state, in fact the state champion of that species. I told Danita that I’d see her in a few minutes. “But you don’t have a helmet on,” she protested.

“I’ll be fine!”

I was tooling along at a pretty good clip, heading into a sharp curve, when I saw a three-quarter-ton Chevy barreling toward me. I kept thinking that this truck has to slow down or it’ll never make it through the curve, GREG WOOD, PUBLISHER which is posted at twenty-five miles per hour.

The truck must have been going close to sixty and still wasn’t slowing. It kept sliding further into my lane, not slowing down. It was about a hundred feet away and all the way over into my lane—I had no choice but to head straight into the ditch.

I flew off the road, came down hard on my front wheel, summersaulted, and smashed my left arm on a steel sign post. As I lay in the ditch looking back, the truck continued barreling down the road, its occupants hooting and hollering. I just watched them, quite shaken, holding my left arm as they rounded the bend by the old bur oak.

I was a mile away from Danita with no phone, so I had no choice but to ride with one arm. Fortunately, I recovered quickly, but it made me wonder about road riding. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that we should be able to bike Missouri’s roads without getting run over.

We encourage everyone to look for both bicyclists and motorcyles as the season warms up, and we’re all on the road. And watch for bikers during Big BAM in North Missouri (page 69). We all want to bike safely across the state, and we hope, if nothing else, Big BAM helps create awareness to make our roads safer for everyone.

One more thing: I’ll never ride on a road without a helmet again.

I’VE BEEN THINKING A LOT ABOUT MUSIC, for several reasons. First, we’re pleased to present our guide to music festivals in this issue (page 38). Second, one of our favorite events, Pedaler’s Jamboree, is coming up soon (page 87). And the 2015 Wildwood Concert Series is particularly good this year: The Guess Who, Poco, Marshall Tucker, Blood Sweat and Tears, and Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

As usual, our friend Bob Bell has put together an outstanding schedule (page 29).

So all this music had me reflecting on the soundtrack of my life: DANITA ALLEN WOOD, EDITOR • Growing up on a farm: “Give Me 40 Acres” by the Willis Brothers. My parents kept the radio dial set to country.

• High school: Three Dog Night’s “Celebrate” (You’re going to see a lot of Three Dog Night songs here).

• A serious relationship: Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” which morphed into Three Dog Night’s “One is the Loneliest Number.”

• Falling in Love with Greg: “Light into Life,” which is something he wrote for me. How could you not fall in love? But also Three Dog Night’s “Pieces of April” because we married in the springtime.

• My career: “Life in the Fast Lane,” of course, by The Eagles.

• My first child, Callina: The soundtrack to Cinderella, her favorite movie at age three.

• My second child, Marissa: “The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers” from Winnie the Pooh, to which she would sing and dance.

• My third child, Evan: Dwight Yoakam’s “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere,” because he played it over and over when he was a kid, and now he has moved to Los Angeles.

• Trail ride vacation music: “Cattle Call” by Eddy Arnold, blared over a loudspeaker at 6 AM to signal time to wake up and saddle up.

• Magazine editing music, when I’m still at it late into the night: Me & Francine, the entire album, by Jon Lumsden. It’s the only thing I can listen to while editing.

• Doing the dishes: Adele’s 21, loud when I’m home alone. It takes the whole album to clean the kitchen. Sometimes, there’s still dancing.

• Anticipating this fall: Three Dog Night’s “Never Been to Spain.” I can’t wait to travel with fellow Missourians to Spain this fall. See page 116 if you’d like to come along. There will be music!

So what’s the soundtrack of your life? Please share by posting on Facebook, or e-mail me at Danita@missourilife.com.

NOTLEY HAWKINS

MISSOURI

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BETH WATSON

Visit · Stay · Explore Salem, Missouri is just around the corner from rivers for all seasons and water for all reasons!

There’s more to do here.

Naturally.

Doubletree Hotel Westport

La Quinta Inn & Suites

Marriott Residence Inn

Stay & Play

Wingate by Wyndham

in Maryland Heights

Creve Coeur Park and Lake

Visit Creve Coeur Lake Rentals if you…

Enjoy being on the water? Rent kayaks, canoes or paddleboats. Life jackets provided. Prefer dry land?

Rent quadricycles or bicycles.

Visit www.more2do.org for a current calendar of events.

Maryland Heights Convention & Visitors Bureau 888.MORE2DO • www.more2do.org Motel 6

Hampton Inn Westport

Holiday Inn Express

Comfort Inn Westport

Days Inn

Homewood Suites

Red Roof Inn Westport

Hollywood Casino & Hotel

Visit Creve Coeur Park & Lake with a 6-mile walking/bike path adjoining to the Katy Trail, picnic shelters and sites, playgrounds, hiking, sand volleyball, athletic fields, modern restrooms & more.

Drury Inn & Suites Westport

Sonesta ES Suites

Courtyard by Marriott

Extended Stay America

Sheraton Westport Chalet & Tower

573-729-6900 | www.salemmo.com

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APRIL

LETTERS from all over You write them. We print them.

Thanks for your dedication to a fine and valuable publication!

WHAT AN EYE What an amazing eye your photographer had in order to capture the rhythm of the arches and the gorgeous painting on the wall inside our state capitol. Thank you.

—Janice M. Robert, Columbia

WHY, THANK YOU! I am just now getting around to subscribing to your magazine. Last November, I was volunteering at a political office, and someone had left a copy of your magazine. It was so colorful and informative. I wanted a subscription for a magazine I’d never heard of before.

I appreciate that you publish such a wonderful magazine about our state.

—Carol Bramon, Mexico, Missouri

—Jane Jonse, Kirkwood

could not find three other people who wanted to go. Our friend even told me, “They are just a little kids fan club band; aren’t they?” Her little sister wanted to go, but her mother forbade it!

So I was finally able to get two gals from work to go, but I had to pay for their tickets. I drove, too ... my mother’s old 1954 Chevrolet. The concert was wonderful; there were so many screaming fans that it was hard to hear them singing, and yes, we threw jelly beans. I heard it was expected to do so at their concerts. We never meant to injure any of them!

And RAIN! It rained some during the concert, but massively on the trip home. I have always wondered how many of those people who turned down the chance to see the Beatles could now kick themselves for missing the opportunity to see a little music group from Liverpool lift our grieving hearts (loss of JFK) and inspire generations to come.

SHARE THE LOVE I enjoy Missouri Life and share my magazine with a local hospital. That way, more people can enjoy it.

Thank you!

—Sharon Meinershagen, Sweet Springs Thank you for sharing Missouri Life with friends, family, neighbors, or even total strangers. Leave a copy of the magazine in a waiting room or at your hair salon, everywhere really!

SEND US A LETTER Email: Facebook: Address:

SETH GARCIA; COURTESY OF JANICE M. ROBERT

OLD FRENCH AND THE BEATLES I have recently moved to Columbia in my quest to get closer to my family roots in Old Mines. I am a member of the Renault family who settled there in the 1700s. I read the article you published about the unique French spoken there (February 2013). This all sounded so familiar to me, so I dug out the family genealogy that was originated by an ambitious law firm in 1929 in the Pennsylvania area of the country … and there it was: the same tract of land mentioned in your article and my genealogy. Therefore, for me, it is “Old Mines or bust.” I will someday get there to see it all for myself. Thank you so much for that article and your wonderful magazine. I toot its praise on a daily basis. I have learned so much about the Missouri that I never knew existed!

Also, I must share with you a copy of my ticket to attend the Beatles concert on September 17, 1964. I was a BIG FAN, and when I heard on the radio that they were to perform in Kansas City thanks to Charles Finley, I bought four tickets at $8.50 each! The amazing part was: I

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! y a w a t e G r u o Y n Pl a to se e a n d d o in L e ba n on!

So m u ch

Kid’s Free Fishing Day

May 2 Bennett Spring State Park www.bennettspringstatepark.com 417-532-4307 | 417-532-4418

Lebanon is known by its motto,

“Frien dly people.

Frien dly pla ce.”

These events are only part of the fun we have to offer.

NASCAR chase for the cup opening night April 25 Lebanon I-44 Speedway www.i44speedway.net

5th Annual Wagons for Warriors

May 23 Laclede County Fairgrounds 417-588-3256

www.lebanonmo.org | 1-866-LEBANON

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KCPT IS MORE THAN JUST TELEVISION‌ WE OFFER VIEWERS OF ALL AGES A TERRIFIC JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE. Almost a million viewers like you rely on KCPT each week for quality national and local PBS programming that enhances their lives and strengthens our community.

kcpt.org

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Mo MIX St. Louis

Mated for Life IN THE FALL of 2005, Mark

or go on what Mark calls an owl prowl—

Glenshaw started an owl ambassadorship.

a trip into Forest Park to see Charles and

A sighting of two great horned owls in

Sarah. He starts his prowls about an hour

Forest Park turned into a new life’s pas-

before sunset, when owls start waking

sion. It was love at first sight for Mark, who

up. He led sixty-eight owl prowls in 2014

has been tracking and observing the same

alone. However, if you’re not a night per-

pair ever since. Although the feelings

son, Mark gives talks about the owls, too.

of the two owls—whom he has named

The goal of Mark’s owl ambassador-

Charles and Sarah—remain unclear, they

ship is simple: to help people connect with

have taught Mark a lot; he has seen them

nature and by extension recognize what

sing duets, raise owlets, hunt, and more.

incredible animals owls are. Follow Mark’s

With all his experience, Mark shares his knowledge with anyone willing to learn

adventures at forestparkowls.blogspot .com.—Lakshna Mehta

Kansas City

St. Louis

A Culinary Hardware Store Rad Scientist JOE HIGGS just wants to make science fun. Under the moniker Nitro Joe, this St. Louis native travels to schools and libraries throughout the Midwest and demonstrates science experiments for children.

Using everything from a CO2 confetti cannon to a leaf blower-controlled hover board, Nitro Joe’s three different demonstrations—“Air in Action,” “It’s a Gas,” and “Science Mysteries Revealed”—are designed to engage and inform.

“I want them excited,” Joe says. “I want them a little afraid, but I want them more curious than ever before.”

As a teenager, Joe performed demonstrations for adults at the St. Louis Science Center. Although he received a communications degree from Missouri Baptist College and briefly studied theater, he maintained his interest in science.

HISTORY

seeps

ance, and gourmet food

There are even bright

In 2002, Joe began to work for Mad Science in St. Louis, but after six years, he

creaking

item imaginable, along-

red goggles that ease

struck out on his own to create a new science show. Now, in addition to performing

wooden floors at Pryde’s

side dozens of kitchen

the discomfort of cutting

for elementary and middle school students, Joe also travels to conferences that

Old Westport, formerly

towels and a plethora

onions.

show teachers how science

a school of dance that

of cookbooks. Pancake-

Spend an afternoon

opened in 1922. But

lovers will appreciate

here, and sip on some

“I want science to be just as

through more than four

the Norpro Pancake Dis-

complementary coffee

exciting as watching a football

decades this building

penser. Other items, like

or tea. On Fridays and

game,” he says. “If I can find a

has housed the ultimate

the lime green rubber

Saturdays, The Upper

way to make a science program

shopping paradise for

spatulas and squeezable

Crust Bakery offers slices

as entertaining or more enter-

people who like to play in

juicers,

of homemade treats.

taining than the magician, the

their kitchens.

and function. And butter

COURTESY OF MARK GELNSHAW; GEORGE DENNISTON

from

the

provide

color

prydeskitchen

juggler, or the guy playing the

slicers, potato ricers, and

.com or call 800-531-

guitar, that’s what I want to do.”

every

spaetzle makers encour-

5588 to learn more.

kitchen gadget, appli-

age cooking creativity.

—Lisa Waterman Gray

A fixture in Westport, Pryde’s

offers

Visit

can be entertaining.

Visit nitrojoe.org for more information.—Elissa Chudwin

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YOUR TRIP BEGINS HERE

#VisitArkansas

Boyhood home of Johnny Cash, Dyess

Come see where Johnny Cash grew up and drew a lot of his inspiration. And while you’re in the Upper Delta of Northeast Arkansas, check out some rockabilly or blues music, visit a home where Ernest Hemingway wrote or cruise the legendary Great River Road. There’s plenty to do here. Crank up the tunes and come see us. ORDER YOUR FREE VACATION PLANNING KIT AT ARKANSAS.COM OR CALL 1-800-NATURAL.

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Mo MIX

Bistro 1121, Blytheville

Independence

Seventy Years after the Surrender

COURTESY OF THE HARRY S. TRUMAN LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

IT WAS

a time of epic con-

integrating into American society,

square-foot exhibition include:

clusions and fresh beginnings, new

and the challenges that caused

a map of the Pacific region that

technology and dramatic deci-

individual families, as well as Presi-

Presidents Roosevelt and Truman

sions. And it was a test of leader-

dent Truman, as he tried to negoti-

used, the first American flag to fly

ship for a newly elected president

ate the conversion from a wartime

above Berlin after the defeat of

from the state of Missouri.

to a peacetime economy.”

Germany, and the safety plug that

“Till We Meet Again: The Great-

The exhibit examines the events

was used to keep the atomic bomb

est Generation in War and Peace”

that culminated with the surrender

from detonating before it could be

at the Harry S. Truman Library and

of Germany and Japan, but there is

dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

Museum takes visitors back to 1945

also a more personal story, too. “We

For those looking to make a

to commemorate the seventieth

have quite a few letters from peo-

weekend of their visit, the Tru-

anniversary of the end of World

ple who were involved in the war

man Library and Museum offers

War II. But the exhibition, which

that are very poignant,” Clay says.

Second Saturday and Second Sun-

runs from April 4 through Decem-

Two important documents will

day programs from May through

ber 31, goes beyond a simple cel-

be on loan from the National Ar-

September. On these days of

ebration of VE and VJ Days.

chives. The original German sur-

the month, visitors can enjoy live

“The focus of the show is the

render document, signed on May 8,

1945-era musical performances,

year 1945, which is the seventieth

1945, will be on display from April

World War II-era film festivals,

anniversary of the end of the war,”

20 to May 18. The Emperor Hiro-

Kansas City food trucks, and open

says Truman Library and Museum

hito Release Script, a document

sessions in the White House Deci-

Curator Clay Bauske. “But that year

ordering the Japanese people to

sion Center, where visitors step

is also the seventieth anniversary

lay down their arms and surrender,

into the roles of the wartime

of Harry Truman becoming presi-

will be displayed from August 14

president and cabinet and de-

dent. We wanted to focus on the

through September 11.

cide how the war will end. Visit

time right at the end of the war,

Other World War II artifacts and

where GIs were returning and re-

documents in the three-thousand-

The Ridges at Village Creek, Wynne

Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum, Piggott

Jones’ Bar-B-Q Diner, Marianna

trumanlibraryinstitute.org to learn more. —Martin W. Schwartz

ARKANSAS.COM

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Made IN MISSOURI Osborn

Far-out Flavors IF you’ve dreamed of pouring cotton candy-flavored milk over your Cheerios or wondered if milk could taste like root beer, look no further than Shatto Milk Company in Osborn. Barbara and Leroy Shatto opened this small, family-operated dairy farm in 2003—which, in addition to funky flavors, offers plain milk and more traditional flavors: chocolate, banana, strawberry, and orange.

Ice cream, butter, cheese curds, fruit punch, and other items are also available in their country store and in many grocery stores in the Kansas City area.

All of the dairy comes straight from the farm.

Visit the farm at 9406 North Route 33, Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6 pm and Saturday 8 am to 4 pm. Call 816-930-3862, or visit shattomilk.com

Sunrise Beach

Dexter

From Student to Teacher

Bona Fide Baskets

WHEN

Loren Woodard would visit

but it took about eight years before he

A MAGAZINE changed Jim Adkins’s life. Browsing through Barnes

Silver Dollar City, he’d marvel at the crafts-

could create high-quality carvings. Now,

& Noble, the woodworker saw a magazine and a challenge in American Indian

men intricately carving wood. The art

he creates everything from busts of cow-

Art. The designs simply

interested him, but Loren didn’t think he

boys to Christmas ornaments.

flipped a switch in him.

could do it. He believed he had no talent.

He is most proud of his ability to carve

After several attempts

That changed in 1990 when Loren’s

faces. Using clay to model his subjects, he

to replicate a platter he

wife gave him a set of carving tools for his

might spend anywhere from a few hours to

saw in the magazine, he

birthday and registered him for a class at

a few weeks to complete a carving. His larg-

finally got it on the fifth

Silver Dollar City. Loren surprised himself

est project, a thirteen-foot-tall black oak

try. After that, he was

when he caught onto the craft quickly,

mermaid displayed on Route KK near Lake

hooked and decided to

of the Ozarks, took him about five months.

start making wooden

After mastering the craft, Loren be-

baskets in the same vein

lieves carving is a learned skill; everyone

as the platter.

has the capability to learn the craft. Now, he teaches about eight classes per year.

“Not everybody could carve the same things I carve,” Loren says, “but ev-

Jim’s basket-turning career took a turn when he visited a cousin in Arizona. There, his cousin showed pictures of his baskets to galleries in Scottsdale, one of which—the Joan Cawley Gallery—ended up showcasing Adkins’s work for ten years.

erybody can learn to carve something they’re interested in.”

From there, he naturally progressed to selling his works, teaching his craft, and conducting demonstrations.

To learn more about wood carving or

Right now, Jim simply enjoys turning wood and teaching the craft to any-

schedule a class, call Loren at 573-480-2003

one wishing to learn. It is an added bonus that turning wood into baskets

or visit bestofmissourihands.org/artisans

keeps him busy and in good health. Visit jimadkinsbasketmaker.com for more

/wood/lorenwoodard.—Elissa Chudwin

information.—Lakshna Mehta

COURTESY OF JIM ADKINS, LOREN WOODARD, AND SHATTO MILK COMPANY

for more information.—Alex Stewart

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SHOW-ME

Books

THE MYSTERY OF

Mercy Louis

Columbia author Keija Parssinen further develops her craft in her second novel.

Like life, the book can be unsettling at THE UNRAVELING of Mercy times, and the mysteries remain messy.

Louis is full of wonderful mysteries.

Author Keija Parssinen succeeds with her Wasting no time, the first chapter starts richly drawn characters. Mercy and Illa dewith the discovery of a dead, perhaps about velop into characters that will become inhalf-term, infant that spurs a murder investimately familiar to every woman who can tigation; all girls of high school age in the remember her first heated kiss, the high fictional town of Port Sabine, Texas, are imdrama of girls in high school, or the euphomediately suspects: Is Annie, the daughter ria of succeeding at athletics. who hates her wealthy father, responsible?

Additionally, the writing is both sumptuIs it Mercy, the young basketball star who ous and thoughtful: feels her power and control when she’s on “On the drive home from the party, Illa the court? Is Illa—the shy, young, practicaltries to resurrect the moment with Lenly invisible girl—hiding a big secret? Or is it nox, that melty feeling in her stomach, the Lucille, either a swamp witch or a naturalmammoth hunger to be closer and take remedy herbalist who lives in a swamp? more. It was so exquisite and terrifying Add to that the mystery of Evelia, that the memory seems not like a shadow the charismatic fundamentalist Chrisof the lived experience but close to the extian grandmother who has raised Mercy perience itself.” since she was a baby because Mercy’s But masterful prose are what we’ve come mother walked out of her life and into to expect from this author—a native of Sauaddiction. Evelia has visions, some of di Arabia who now calls Missouri home. which come true. And what happened A graduate of Princeton University and between Evelia and her own daughter? the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Will that affect Mercy, too?

Keija moved to Columbia in 2009, when And finally, why are all the young her husband, originally from Joplin, found a women in this town, starting with Mercy, job in Jefferson City. The following year she beginning to exhibit physical tics, twitchfounded the Quarry Heights Writer’s Workes, and symptoms that apparently have no shop in Columbia, where writers share their medical or scientific explanation?

Keija Parssinen work with peers, give and receive feedback Mysteries, red herrings, and fast-paced 336 pages, Hardcover on manuscripts, and learn about fiction and plot lines aside, The Unraveling of Mercy HarperCollins Publishers, $25.99 creative non-fiction. And in 2012, her first Louis is essentially a coming-of-age stonovel, The Ruins of Us, won a Michener-Copernicus award. However, she says ry, as the main characters Mercy and Illa navigate the ever-changing that 2013 was the year when Columbia really felt like home. That’s when she world of adolescence: friendships, family dynamics, boys, romance, gave birth to her son and experienced Missouri hospitality in full. lust, love, and the glimmerings of promise of who they might become “So many people took such good care of us,” she says. in the future.

The Unraveling of Mercy Louis

COURTESY OF HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS

BY DANITA ALLEN WOOD

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NOTABLE MISSOURIANS

UNIVERSITY OF

MISSOURI

2014 Series Available Now

PRESS

Olive Boone, Emmett Kelly, Sam Nightingale, Helen Stephens, Great Walker

This vividly illustrated book series for young readers, grades 4 to 6, brings to life Missourians who contributed to Missouri’s history and culture. While the books are geared for children, history lovers of all ages will also find the books appealing. They make great gifts for grandchildren and local libraries.

FROM MISSOURI TO THE WORLD TO ORDER: 800.621.2736

UPRESS.MISSOURI.EDU

2015 Series Coming Soon Featuring: Jean Bartik, Jeffrey Deroine, Marie Fower, Albert Lambert, Stan Musial, Alfsonso Wetmore

$32 each

100 E. Normal Ave., Kirksville, MO 63501 tsup.truman.edu • 660-785-7336 MO Life - Wide 4.indd 1

2/2/15 12:28 PM

GREAT READS—FROM MISSOURI LIFE

pick one up today!

1

Prepare for Leadership: From farm boy to Times Square

Prepare for Leadership is an open and honest memoir by the man who had the vision and passion to help create the biodiesel fuel industry.

Nile Ramsbottom shares his journey from a Midwestern farm to the corporate offices of Ralston Purina and Purina Mills, a path that uniquely prepared him for the job. He describes success and the difficult transition of suddenly being unemployed at 55. Prepare for Leadership is an excellent guide for employees and entrepreneurs at any stage of their career. 9” x 6”, 192 pages, $15.99

New Regionalsim: The Art of Bryan Haynes Rediscover our landscape! Explore the sweeping views inhabited by historical figures, native Americans, and local characters with stunning colors and eye-popping clarity created by Missouri artist Bryan Haynes. 12” x 12”, 180 pages, more than 150 pieces of artwork, hardcover and dust jacket, $49.99

Missouri River Country: 100 Miles of Stories and Scenery from Hermann to the Confluence West of the Gateway Arch, just miles from Downtown St. Louis, another world exists. This book is your guide to that world, taking you along 100 miles of the Missouri River to discover attractions new and old. More than 60 contributing writers have made Missouri River Country possible, including Gov. Jay Nixon, Sen. Claire McCaskill, Sen. Roy Blunt, William Least Heat-Moon, Sen. Kit Bond, and a host of others. 12¼” x 9¼”, 192 pages, 236 photos and illustrations, hardcover, $39.95

MissouriLife.com/store or call 800-492-2593, ext. 101 Shipping and tax added to all orders.

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SHOW-ME

Books

MORE GOOD READS

BY ELISSA CHUDWIN, LAKSHNA MEHTA, AND JONAS WEIR

Does the Sun Have Fun? Judy Stock, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 24 pages, softcover, children’s book, $9.95 Boonville resident Judy Stock allows young children to imagine what happens to the sun after it sets, and Kansas native Denton Warn’s whimsical, bright illustrations give the sun human qualities as it travels from a town to an overnight train. The author also included discussion questions and a coloring page, so children have a chance to have their own fun.

If Only I Could Bark Debra Weingarth, 24 pages, hardcover, children’s book, $16 With If Only I Could Bark, Hermann resident Debra Weingarth tells a real life tale of friendship, acceptance, family, and an unlikely pair in a children’s book that can only be described as the cutest thing ever. With amazing illustrations by Hermann’s Catherine Mahoney, who expertly brought to life children’s stories in What Makes Ossie Special and Daisy and Digger, this book is for anyone with kids, grandkids, or an appreciation of fine art.

Making Tracks: The Untold Story of Horse Racing in St. Louis, 1767-1905 Nancy E. Carver, Reedy Press, 384 pages, hardcover, nonfiction, $29.95 In Making Tracks,, author Nancy E. Carver immerses herself in the history of horse racing in St. Louis, bringing back an often-unnoticed facet of the city’s history. Nancy’s great uncle Andrew Tilles was once part of a prominent St. Louis horse racing syndicate, but this book isn’t a personal story. It chronicles the origins of horse racing in St. Louis, the race tracks themselves, and the people behind the sport.

Fish, Frogs, and Fireflies: Growing up with Nature Robert U. Montgomery, NorLightsPress, 222 pages, nonfiction, softcover, $15.95 If you have ever tried to explain the beauty of nature to a city slicker or the thrill of playing outdoors to a child, Fish, Frogs, and Fireflies will help you. Author Robert U. Montgomery uses his childhood experiences in the wilderness of Missouri to inspire readers to venture out of their temperature-controlled environments. The book also features thirteen stories that were each contributed by a different nature enthusiast.

Race and Meaning: The African American Experience in Missouri

Washington’s Founding: An Owens Legacy

Gary R. Kremer, University of Missouri Press, 288 pages, nonfiction, hardcover, $35 Opening with an address by the first principal of Lincoln University of Missouri, Richard B. Foster, on the state of education available to black children in 1869 and closing with an essay on Abraham Lincoln’s legacy in Missouri, Race and Meaning is a crash course in African American history from the end of the Civil War to the 1960s. But it’s also a collection of fourteen articles—written by the executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri, Gary R. Kremer—that delves into the details about life in the black communities of Missouri, from modes of travel to food consumption.

Walt Larson, Washington Historical Society, 247 pages, hardcover, nonfiction, $15 Washington, Missouri, has a rich history—so rich that the town has an entire book series dedicated to it. Other books in the series examine Civil War stories, prominent people in the town’s past, and Washington’s early industrialists, but Washington’s Founding gets straight to the heart of topic: the town’s founding family. Examining the Owens family from their settling the frontier town to their legacy today, this book is part genealogy, part history book, and wholly important for history buffs that want to know more about the corncob pipe capital of the world.

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MISSOURI

MISSOURI

Via MANCHESTER

Who are American Wrestlers, and where did they come from?

BY JONAS WEIR

By way of his wife, a St. Louis native, Greg moved to the Show-Me State after the two eloped in England. When he first arrived in the Gateway in mystery.

City in 2014, he had almost none of his equipment, so he borrowed his Late last year, the band seemingly came out of nowhere and released a wife’s guitar and keyboard, downloaded a drum machine app on his phone, single through the noted Mississippi-based label Fat Possum Records— picked up a tape recorder, and set to work making demos. known for releasing The Black Keys’ early records and Don’t Give Up On Me, “I didn’t have a useable computer to record with, which was actually the Grammy-award winning record by legendary bluesman Solomon Burke.

American Wrestlers’ song, “I Can quite a nice thing, to not have a screen Do No Wrong,” saturated the online to look at all day,” Greg says. “So I music press, but the media knew went back to cassette, the way I used only a handful of facts: American to record when I was fourteen.”

With a stripped down setup and no Wrestlers was the moniker of a Scottish man, living somewhere in Misone to collaborate with, Greg focused souri, who recorded an album on a on strong song writing, rather than secondhand eight-track tape recorder production trickery. His goal was simthat he bought at a pawn shop. ple: to prove he could do it on his own.

“I was trying to write songs in the The music alone—a blend of pop-oriented rock, solid song straightest way I could, just keep evstructures, and indie sensibilities— erything very standard,” he says. “Rewas catchy enough to stir a buzz, cording it changed it, though. A lot of it is accidental.” yet the cryptic nature of its origins The self-titled album is littered with certainly helped, though it may unintentional idiosyncrasies that give have been unintentional. off a certain charm. Some songs are “There’s no need for this anodriven by the limitations of a drum nymity,” says Greg McClure, the machine, and others permeated by enigmatic Scot behind American the hiss of a cassette. There’s an auWrestlers. “I recorded two songs dible cough on “Kelly.” and sent them to blogs and journalOverall, American Wrestlers is a ists directly, and I decided to give collection of songs that were intendthem no information, just because The self-titled debut album by American Wrestlers is set to be released on April 7. Although the songs on the album sound light and poppy, they often deal with heavy topics, like police brutality. ed to be demos but caused such posiI had no imagination really.” tive reactions in the record industry Behind the veil of secrecy, the rethey are being released as is. ality is more sensible than any of the Although he may not be a native to this country, Greg is adapting well to false narratives conjured up in the minds of imaginative bloggers. American life in Missouri. He had his first tornado drill, a thrilling experience for him, Wrestlers didn’t come out of nowhere. Greg is a humble, yet skilled, musiand he’s taking pride in and coming to appreciate all this state has to offer. cian who grew up in East Kilbride, Scotland, the hometown of The Jesus and “In the summertime, if you go out to the countryside in Missouri, it’s Mary Chain. His previous band, the Manchester-based Working For A Nuastounding,” Greg says. “Even compared with the finest countryside in clear Free City, released three albums and flirted with the mainstream; their England, there’s no match for it.” song “Dead Fingers Talking” was featured on an episode of Breaking Bad.

COURTESY OF FAT POSSUM RECORDS

UNTIL THIS POINT, American Wrestlers have been shrouded

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Wildwood Springs Lodge POCO

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PROMOTION ADVERTISEMENT

AWAKEN to Fulton’s rich history with exciting sights and sounds all wrapped up in the warmth of small-town charm, with brick streets, elegant architecture, and 67 buildings on the historic register.

UNWIND at a Missouri top 10 inn, the historic Loganberry Inn where Margaret Thatcher and other famous guests have stayed.

CONNECT to our history at the newly renovated National Churchill Museum.

This $4-million museum inside a priceless piece of architecture offers a look back at living history.

IMMERSE yourself in the arts and music at Kemper Center for the Arts and Westminster Gallery.

MARVEL at the impressive collection of 84 historic automobiles displayed in Hollywood-style sets for their era at the new Backer Auto World Museum.

SAMPLE some distinctive Missouri wines at Canterbury Hill Winery, or bottle your own at Serenity Valley Winery.

SAVOR scrumptious dining at one of our great restaurants, like Beks, for a unique blend of old and new where internet and espresso meet 1902 architecture.

CAPTURE a sense of local history at the Historical Society Museum, or pay your respects at the Missouri Firefighters Memorial.

The National Churchill Museum features interactive displays that engage and educate visitors of all ages.

Celebrate the joy of painting, pottery, jewelry making and more with weekly events at the Art House in Fulton’s Brick District.

SMILE at the offbeat collection at Crane’s Museum in Williamsburg, and before you head out, stop by Marlene’s Restaurant. A pulled-pork sandwich and warm slice of pie will leave you grinning.

REVISIT the 1930s by sharing a shake made with locally made premium ice cream at Sault’s authentic soda fountain.

Loganberry Inn B&B offers a variety of intimate wedding packages as well as other romance packages.

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ADVERTISEMENT Backer Auto World Museum displays an impressive collection of 84 historic automobiles in Hollywood-style sets.

Calendar of Events Morels & Microbrew Festival April 25, 1-5  500 Block of Court St., Fulton 573-642-8010 www.thebrickdistrict.com Opening Day of Brick District Farmers Market Beginning May 2 Saturdays 9-12 Wednesdays 4-6 100 Block of 5th Street, Fulton May-October Callaway Plein Air May 28 through May 31 Art House 521 Court Street, Fulton 573-592-7733 www.arthousefultonmo.org National Winston Churchill Museum Exhibits 501 Westminster, Fulton For schedule of exhibits visit 573-592-5369 www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org

Brews and mushrooms are flowing at the Morels and Microbrew Festival in the Historic Brick District.

Unique shops and restaurants dot Fulton’s Historic Brick District.

Come tour our seven historic Civil War sites on the Gray Ghosts Trail!

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Savor a “Brown cow” at Sault’s authentic soda fountain.

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For your next getaway or family vacation, visit Fulton and Callaway County. For more information and calendar of events, visit www.visitfulton.com or call 573-642-3055.

3/4/15 11:34 AM

MISSOURI This sculpture, entitled Monster, was a part of artist Matthew Dehaemers’s 2014 exhibition Re-Tread, which was held at Studio Inc. in Kansas City’s Crossroads neighborhood.

IMPERMANENCE

and RENEWAL

MATTHEW DEHAEMERS would like you to join him in ex-

ploring a century of family history by sitting in a giant wooden tire swing.

Navigating a Way, an interactive multimedia experience, delighted patrons at Matthew’s Kansas City solo show Re-Tread last year. And it’s just the most recent entry in a body of work that turns heads with its playfulness, honesty, and kinetic energy. “For me,” Matthew says, “it’s about finding something for people to relate to—to have a relationship with.”

Long before Matthew was mounting large-scale installations in galleries, he was developing his uniquely selfless approach to visual art. “I was a shy little kid,” he says. “Art was my way of communication, and I saw it as an opportunity to help people.”

This impetus has carried him through his professional career. Between a stint as an AmeriCorps volunteer teaching art at an Arizona Navajo reservation and a series of installations in partnership with the Delaware Valley Chapter Alzheimer’s Association, Matthew has found inventive ways to blur the lines between artist and community member.

Matthew delights in the opportunity to mingle those descriptors in his

public works. From a streetcar constructed of PVC tubing suspended over a street in downtown Kansas City to the steel Catalyst sculpture whose movements correspond to the arrivals and departures of Kansas City buses, his public work engages passersby with its often electric energy.

“My biggest hope, when I make pieces in a public realm, is to make something people will want to have around,” Matthew says. “I’ve always liked the challenge of getting your contractor or your engineer who’s not used to making an art piece and having to lead people like that forward into being a piece of the puzzle.”

Even when Matthew was still cutting his teeth as an artist, he was always resourceful in his explorations of this collective process. In 2003, as the artist-in-residence at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, he took interest in the historic monastery’s still-operating flour mill.

“I had the brothers bake me five hundred loaves of bread, and I reconstructed a log cabin that used to sit on the grounds,” he says. “I think they enjoyed this mirror being held up and reflecting what they’d done for the last 150 years.”

COURTESY OF MATTHEW DEHAEMERS

Artist Matthew Dehaemers uses his temporary art installations to instill change. BY T.S. LEONARD

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COURTESY OF MATTHEW DEHAEMERS

After his artist-in residence stint, Matthew took on various day jobs throughout the 2000s, finding his own time to explore artistic endeavors. It was not until 2005—when he was asked to paint a mural at his alma mater, Rockhurst High School in Kansas City—that he thought he might take a crack at being a full-time artist.

At home in Kansas City, Matthew has continued this practice of inviting the community to engage with their history through artwork. His 2005 installation Look Good, Feel Good was a meditation on the differences and commonalities of barbershop culture in black and white neighborhoods, presented in a building that had housed a two-generation, one-man barbershop.

“I’ve always been interested in helping people bring to light something culturally challenging, like racism or Alzheimer’s, and bringing about conversation in a creative way,” he says.

Matthew’s broad, socially-conscious vision has proven to spark conversation and, at least once, truly change lives. On May 22, 2011, Matthew and his wife were taking a weekend away—their first since having children—at Table Rock Lake when the storm hit. While the couple took shelter, a tornado tore west through Joplin and took 159 lives in its path.

“Part of me wanted to go do something right away,” Matthew says, “so I tried to help the way I knew how.”

Back at home, Matthew mobilized a group of his peers to visit Joplin.

They were connected with six homeowners who had lost their houses in the storm and helped pick through the debris for salvageable materials.

They brought the materials back and, along with ninety-eight Kansas City artists, refashioned the rubble into new, original art pieces. The collection was presented in August 2011 at the Leedy-Voulkous Art Center and auctioned off to ultimately raise more than $20,000 that served as relief money for Joplin artists affected by the tornado.

“Some of the families came to the show, and it was amazing for them to see their memories having a new life,” Matthew says. “It put smiles on the faces of some people.”

Matthew is happily returning to Joplin next summer to mount a public piece in commemoration of the five-year anniversary of the tornado. In the meantime, he’s keeping busy at home—not just with fatherhood but also with upcoming projects. He’s preparing for a show this year that will feature sculptural forms made from reclaimed urban wood, and he’s brainstorming ways in which joint workshops can be offered to teach the community how to repurpose the valuable materials.

With so many temporary installations, impermanence and renewal seem to be often on the artist’s mind.

“I’ve created temporary work that’s taken an absurd amount of time to put together, just to see it destroyed in a matter of minutes,” Matthew says.

“I just resign myself to the idea that nothing lasts forever, but a memory can be passed from generation to generation.”

Matthew shouldn’t be too concerned. His outsized vision and matching generosity seem to leave a lasting impact on viewers. “My biggest fulfilment is people who have really responded to something that doesn’t even exist anymore,” he says.

Above: A part of Matthew’s Re-Tread exhibition, this piece, Navigating a Way, was the artist’s take on a tire swing. Below: This cabin made of loaves of bread was a part of Matthew’s temporary installation, Manna, at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

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Great Missouri Art

National Exhibition Through May 3 Presented by

Freeman Health System Juror Shannon Thomas Perich

Curator Photographic History Collection Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

222 WEST 3RD STREET 222 WEST 3RD STREET JOPLIN, MISSOURI 64801 JOPLIN, MISSOURI 64801 417.623.0183 417.623.0183 Tues–Sat: 10am–5pm, Sun: 1–5pm Open Tues–Sat: 10am–5pm, Sun: 1–5pm Closed Mondays, major holidays Closed Mondays, major holidays

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Convention and Visitors Bureau

Detail, Traverse by Koral Martin, PhotoSpiva 2015

Missouri Landscapes by Neil Heimsoth

The Curious Savage, 6/24-7/15 Pump Boys & Dinettes, 7/3-7/31

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Church Basement Ladies 4, 9/25-10/11 Arsenic and Old Lace, 10/16-11/1 Plaid Tidings, 11/27-12/13

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[36] MissouriLife

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During the 2014 LouFest in St. Louis’s Forest Park, the venerated New Orleans jazz musician Trombone Shorty played a Sunday evening set with his group Orleans Avenue.

FESTIVAL

Frenzy Journey across the state, and discover the best festivals for music fans, from barbecue and bluegrass bashes to hippie havens.

COURTESY OF JACK EDINGER

BY JONAS WEIR

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During the Ozark Music Festival held in Sedalia in 1974, people turned out from all over the United States, as the festival had taken out a full-page advertisement in Rolling Stone magazine.

COURTESY OF DAVID MANN

ON JULY 19, 1974, nearly two hundred thousand descended on the state fairgrounds in Sedalia in an event that can only be called the Woodstock of Missouri. People ventured from all over to hear their favorite rock groups: Aerosmith, Blue Öyster Cult, the Eagles, Ted Nugent, and the Show-Me State’s own Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

The rock festival culture—the gathering of hippies and dropouts to listen to live music, party, and live free—made its way from California, where the culture was born in 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival, to the more conservative Missouri. The festival organizers, Kansas City’s Musical Productions Inc., assured the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Sedalia Chamber of Commerce that it would feature bluegrass and soft rock and that no more than fifty thousand tickets would be sold. However, with “no hassles guaranteed,” a venue that could easily accommodate a hundred thousand people, and many hard rock bands set to perform, the Ozark Music Festival quickly turned into what state legislators called a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. By the end, there was an estimated $100,000 in property damage and several drug overdoses.

Needless to say, there wouldn’t be an Ozark Music Festival in 1975. The Missouri State Senate committee that was formed to investigate the festival had scalding remarks: “The Ozark Music Festival can only be described as a disaster.”

Today, festival culture has evolved. Remnants of the bacchanalia that came to life at the Ozark Music Festival in 1974 are still alive in today’s festival party culture, but great lessons were learned from that festival and others like it. Modern rock festivals are safe; police, festival security, and medical staff are all on hand, and many are family-friendly environments from the outset.

Even better, the world of music festivals has never been more diverse and vibrant. There are scores of specialized festivals across the country, and across the state, where you find your favorite music and nothing but your favorite music, whether that’s bluegrass, blues, classical, electronic dance music, or good old rock ’n’ roll. So get out the sunscreen, bring plenty of water, and discover how Missouri does music festivals.

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Big Muddy Folk Festival On April 10 and 11, the Big Muddy Folk Festival will return to Thespian Hall in Boonville.

This two-day fest is all about the music, but not necessarily just the concerts. The weekend features many workshops and jams for musicians of all types and skill levels. Yet, the concerts will still be great.

The Claire Lynch Band will headline the festival this year. Claire was named the 2013 International Bluegrass Music Association’s female vocalist of the year, and in 2012, she was awarded the prestigious United States Artists Walker Fellowship, a fifty thousand dollar award.

The lineup will be rounded out by Atwater-Donnelly, the St. Louis Rivermen, Gloria Attoun, L'Esprit Creole, Phyllis Dale, The Original Sweet Song String Band with Dana Hamilton and David Lindsey, and Boonville’s resident The Big Muddy Folk Festival often brings in some of the best Americana performers from across the country, including jug bands like The Wiyos, who hail from the East Coast.

balladeers Cathy Barton and Dave Para. Tickets range from $25 to $45. Visit bigmuddy.org for more information.

Middle of the Map Middle of the Map is Missouri’s answer to South by Southwest—the music, film, and forum fest in Austin, Texas. However, Middle of the Map is a chance for you to find new bands, rather than an opportunity for bands to be discovered by record labels.

“Going in, you might not know all the bands on the lineup,” says Ashley Dowgwillo, one of the festival’s organizer, “but you’re going to love them coming out of it.”

Middle of the Map often books artists before they ever earn wide recognition.

Three years ago, the festival booked the relatively unknown band Fun.[sic], only to have them release a platinum album right before the festival.

Technically called Ink’s Middle of the Map Festival Curated by The Record Machine, this festival was founded by Ink Magazine and record label The Record Machine five years ago to bring in national music talent to Kansas City and showcase what Kansas City has to offer. And much like SXSW, the festival takes place in various indoor venues. Unlike SXSW, one festival pass gets you into all of the concerts.

This year, some highlights include Iron & Wine, Ben Kweller, and OK Go. Plus many local acts will perform during the music festival portion—April 22 to 25.

sas won’t only be in the middle of a US map, it’ll be the center of our attention.

Lead singer of the Kansas City punk rock group The Bad Ideas, Break-A-Dawn, was the center of attention during the band’s performance at last year’s festival in Westport.

Rock'n Ribs BBQ Festival What more could you ask of a day than listening to live music and walking around a barbecue competition?

On April 25 and 26, this Kansas City Barbecue Societysanctioned cook-off at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds will bring in more than seventy-five teams to compete for the best ribs, and better yet, all of the proceeds benefit local children’s charities.

During the hoopla of the barbecue competition, the festival will feature music all day long in what the festival organizers call a Mardi Gras-style atmosphere. Regional rock groups—like Springfield’s 1980s tribute band Members Only or party band Sequel At the annual Rock’n Ribs BBQ Festival, the food is just as important as the music. This year, the public barbecue sampling starts on Saturday at 1 PM and ends when the food runs out.

Dose—usually fill the bill.

For more information, visit rocknribs.com.

COURTESY OF MISSOURI DIVISION OF TOURISM, TODD ZIMMER, AND MIKE KELLNER

While the music portion of the festival may be the finale, Middle of the Map is holding events starting on April 5. So for the entire month of April, Westport in Kan-

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Branson BBQ & Bluegrass Festival If you’ve never been to Silver Dollar City, May is the time to go.

From May 7 to 25, the Ozarks theme park will be hosting its annual Branson BBQ and Bluegrass Festival, bringing scores of great performers and serving up delicious smoked, grilled, sauced, and charred meats. Every day from 3 PM until the park closes, the park’s Reunion Hall will be serving an all-you-can-eat ribs feast. The Bottle Neck Bros. Sauce Shack will offer 150 different sauces, from the spiciest of the spicy to sweet Silver Dollar City originals. And the music, as always, will be excellent.

Highlights this year include the queen of bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent; the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America’s entertaining group of the year, Nothin’ Fancy; rising star Lorraine Jordan; and

From left, Jeanette, Jack, Jeremiah, Jessica, Jedi, Jennifer, and Jasmine are all siblings and band mates. As the Willis Clan, they perform bluegrass mixed with Irish music, and they’ll be returning to Silver Dollar City this May for the Branson BBQ and Bluegrass Festival. Both their mother and father, Brenda and Toby Willis, play music, too, and they have five more siblings—Juliette, Jamie, Joy Anna, Jaeger, and Jada—just waiting to join the band.

more. The festival is included with the price of admission to the park. Visit silverdollarcity.com for more information.

Arcadia Valley Music Festival COURTESY OF ARCADIA VALLEY MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SILVER DOLLAR CITY

The Arcadia Valley Music Festival isn’t technically a summer festival. But with one in spring—May 15 to 17—and one in the fall—October—The Arcadia Valley Music Festivals really book-end the summer. One kicks it off toward the end of the school year, and the other says a solemn goodbye just before those northerly winds blow in.

About eighty miles south of St. Louis, this free music festival brings topnotch bluegrass and gospel musicians to the heart of the Ozarks. While this festival is a chance to get out and hear great music, it’s also an opportunity to appreciate the majesty of nature and experience a slice of small-town life.

The activities center on Main Street in Ironton and the Iron City Courthouse, and there are plenty of places to camp nearby in the Arcadia Valley Region and Black River Recreation Area.

This spring festival’s lineup features The Dalton Gang, a group of young bluegrass players and a thirty-seven-year music industry veteran based in Lamar; Nashville’s award-winning bluegrass group The Bankesters; an Old TestamentBring your own lawn chair to the Arcadia Valley Music Festival if you want to be comfortable, or you can always sit on the provided straw bales to get that real old-time feeling.

inspired gospel group from Ste. Genevieve, The Book of Ruth; and more.

Visit mountainmusicfestival.net for more information.

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Back Forty Bluegrass Festival What sets the Back Forty Bluegrass Festival in Curryville apart from your typical music festival are two strict rules: no drugs or alcohol and absolutely no electronic instruments.

Like Pete Seeger trying to take an axe to the soundboard when Bob Dylan went electric, this festival is taking things back to the roots of Americana. And for two long weekends—May 21 to 24 and September 3 to 6—you can get a down-home bluegrass experience in a family-friendly setting. As long as you bring your own chairs and shade, you’re bound to have a good time watching artists that range from the Clay Hess Band in May to Marty Raybon and Full Circle in September.

Tickets range from $20 for one day to $45 for a weekend pass. Rides are available from the camping area nearby. Call 573-324-5437 or visit backfortybluegrasspark.com for more information.

With a total of twelve full-length albums, Rhonda Vincent—the Queen of Bluegrass—is returning to the Back Forty Bluegrass Festival this May with her band, The Rage. Rhonda is a Missouri native. She was born in Kirksville on July 13, 1962, and was raised in nearby Greentop.

Besides the massive puppets, like these aliens, The Schwag—a Grateful Dead tribute band that has been around since 1991—is the main attraction at the Cosmic Reunion.

If Missouri has an equivalent to Burning Man—a weeklong music festival known for its scenic location in the state of Nevada, large public art installation, and bohemian spirit—it would be Cosmic Reunion.

Held in the beautiful Astral Valley, about forty-five minutes south of St. Louis, this camping and music festival will give you a chance to live like a free spirit from May 22 to 24. The festival is truly a hippie haven with the infamous Grateful Dead tribute band The Schwag headlining both weekend nights. Plus, there will be a Pink Floyd tribute band, a Sublime tribute band, a Led Zeppelin cover band, and many musicians performing original music, like self-described hillbilly band Mountain Sprout. However fun the music may be, what makes Cosmic Reunion worth it is the art.

The festival offers grants to ten artists to come and set up installations.

The best part is you can interact with most of the pieces. Giant art sculptures will populate the grounds. Puppeteers will launch a thirty-five-foot long octopus across the crowd. You’ll be able to climb on a life-sized replica of a Viking ship.

“We’re doing something that I think hasn’t been done before at a Midwest music festival,” says Sheena Cox, one of the festival’s key organizers.

What also sets this festival apart from other large rock festivals is its laid-back attitude. There’s nothing to worry about at Cosmic Reunion. The organizers are relaxed. The fans are chilled-out hippies. And if the crowds do get to you, there are 230 acres of beautiful Ozark nature to explore at Astral Valley.

So for three days, you can explore caves, hike trails, see theater performances, climb on giant art instalations, camp, and listen to music. And tickets only cost $55. Visit cosmicreunion.com for more information.

COURTESY OF COSMIC REUNION AND BACK FORTY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

Cosmic Reunion

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Rockfest Many rock festivals have a hard time finding a niche. A vague genre like rock—which could cover everything from prog to alternative to heavy metal to bubblegum—is hard to hold as a guiding principle, but KQRC 98.9’s Rockfest knows what its fans want. That’s why more than fifty thousand people come out for the day-long festival each year at Liberty Memorial in Downtown Kansas City.

Organized by KQRC 98.9 The Rock, Kansas City’s biggest hard rock station, the festival is in its twenty-third year—the twelfth at Liberty Memorial. This year’s festival on May 30 is bringing in Rob Zombie, Anthrax, Kansas City native Tech N9ne, and more.

Visit kcrockfest.com for more information.

The DJs of 98.9 The Rock introduce Korn, the headliner of last year’s festival.

Pillars of Truth Ministries perform at the Bluegrass and Gospel Festival in downtown Excelsior Springs.

COURTESY OF KQRC 98.9 THE ROCK

Bluegrass and Gospel Festival at Excelsior Springs On May 31, from noon until 5 PM, Downtown Excelsior Springs will be alive with music.

From the opening band to the closing act, you’ll hear everything from old country standards to true blue gospel to finger-pickin’ bluegrass. The day of music is a perfect opportunity to bring a lawn chair and picnic basket, enjoy the weather, and visit the great restaurants and shops in the town’s historic district.

Check visitexcelsior.com or call 816-637-2811 for more information.

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Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival Each year, Sedalia pays tribute to Missouri’s arguably greatest contribution to the world—ragtime music.

In the city where the legendary composer wrote “The Maple Leaf Rag,” The Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival is returning from June 3 to 6. Presented by the Scott Joplin Foundation, this festival offers both free and paid concerts at a variety of venues throughout town.

Keeping alive the spirit of the music that paved the way for jazz, the festival is the perfect venue for traditional dancing, tapping your foot to the same music that was played in nineteenth-century saloons, and passing along generations of Missouri traditions to new generations. Visit scottjoplin.org for more information.

Jacob Adams is a Minneapolis-based pianist and composer whose specialty is ragtime music. Last year, he performed at the Scott Joplin Maple Leaf site.

Music isn’t the only thing that’s center stage at the Old Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival in West Plains. Pie-making was featured on the cooking stage at last year’s event.

The Old Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival is much more than just a music festival. It’s a chance to pass on the traditions of southern Missouri and discover the favorite pasttimes of the nineteenth century.

The two-day event—June 19 and 20 in West Plains—features blacksmithing demonstrations, square dancing, a dutch-oven cook-off, a mule jumping demonstration, quilting demonstrations, a jig dance competition, living history performers, plenty of activities for children, and much more. However, music is the main attraction.

The festival offers a plethora of workshops if you want to work on your skills on banjo, guitar, or mandolin. The Fiddlers’ Frolic is a chance to witness a real open jam with scores of talented musicians.

And of course, bands will be performing on two stages. Many great Missouri artists will perform, but this year’s highlight is definitely Dr. Ralph Stanley—the noted, Grammy-winning eighty-seven-year old Appalachian bluegrass singer who was featured on the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?, singing the Virginia dirge “O Death.”

Visit oldtimemusic.org or call 888-256-8835 for more information.

The Brumley Gospel Sing The Brumley Gospel Sing has become a music institution.

Since its inception in 1969, this festival has featured scores of the most authentic gospel singers in the nation. For its tenth year in Lebanon, Missouri, the sing is bringing in more than twentyfive performers for two shows a day at Cowan Civic Center from August 5 to 8.

Called the Granddaddy of Gospel Sings, the Brumley Gospel Sing brings in more than twenty thousand fans of gospel each year.

Tickets range from $20 for one night to $55 for all four nights.

There are discount prices for children. Visit brumleymusic.com or call 800-435-3725 for more information.

From left, Jeff Hawes, Karen Peck, and Susan Peck make up Karen Peck and the New River, who have performed at the sing for the past fifteen years. Karen’s daughter Kari is also on stage.

COURTESY OF BRUCE CONKLIN, WEST PLAINS COUNCIL ON THE ARTS, AND RANDY KIRBY

Old Time Music Ozark Heritage Festival

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Mizzou International Composers Festival The Mizzou International Composers Festival is a one-of-a-kind experience and one of the true gems that Missouri has to offer.

Inside the Missouri Theatre in downtown Columbia, this festival brings in the internationally respected chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound, two of the world’s best contemporary composers, and eight aspiring composers for a full week of new music. But what does new music mean?

“People say ‘new music,’ but anything is new,” says William Lackey, who has been the director of the new music initiative at Mizzou since the festival got its start in 2009. “I guess we’re talking about concert pieces written by what some people call fine arts composers, but they are really just people who are passionate about music and sound and who continue a conversation from the lineage of Bach and Beethoven.”

Yes, so string and wind instruments, a conductor, and pages upon pages of sheet music being performed in an ornate theater to a crowd of seated people, politely clapping at the end of each piece. However highfalutin this may sound, it’s not supposed to be. The festival is truly for

anyone who wants to experience and learn about a whole new world of sound.

To that end, Monday, July 20, through Friday, July 24, there will be free rehearsals open to the public. Plus, two guest composers, American composer Andrew Norman and Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen, will be giving lectures on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. On the other hand, the truly great events are the performances on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

On Thursday, the musicians of Alarm Will Sound will pick the pieces that they want to perform, so they really hit their stride during these performances.

“Alarm Will Sound is the closest a chamber ensemble could be to a rock band,” William says. “What you will see is passionate musicians on stage, working their hardest to express what the composer put on the page.”

Next, on Friday night, Alarm Will Sound will take on pieces from the guest composers. Hans Abrahamsen, one guest composer, is best known for Schnee—a minimalist score that’s already considered a modern masterpiece. Andrew Norman,

the other guest composer, gained international attention when he unveiled a piece inspired by architect Frank Gehry’s house.

Finally, on Saturday night, Alarm Will Sound will perform eight world premieres from eight aspiring composers from around the world.

The pieces are chosen by an open-call contest for composers. This past year, 231 composers submitted pieces, creating stiff competition for the eight open spots.

In the end, though, the festival is an amazing opportunity, especially for Mid-Missouri, to see one of the nation’s greatest ensembles of classically trained musicians perform music by the best composers of our lifetimes, plus eight concert pieces that no one has ever heard before. And it’s all done in a somewhat relaxed setting where great composers are totally accessible to the audience. The key is to have an open mind.

“I want people to come take an adventure and listen to what’s going on,” William says. “If you don’t like something, ask the composer about it.”

Visit newmusicsummerfestival.missouri.edu for more information.

COURTESY OF PUREEXPOSURE@ME.COM

Alarm Will Sound performs annually at the Mizzou International Composers Festival. The group has been called “one of the most vital and original ensembles” in America by The New York Times.

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Last year, Concertmaster David Halen celebrated ten years with the festival and brought musicians from the St. Louis Symphony and other orchestras.

Missouri River Festival of the Arts Although Thespian Hall in Boonville plays host to a very different type of music festival in April, the venue gets a little more highbrow in August for the Missouri River Festival of the Arts.

Since 1976, this festival, with support from the Kemper Foundations and the Missouri Arts Council, has put together three nights of classical music featuring nationally recognized performers. Since 2005, David Halen, concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, has acted as the director of the festival. Under his direction, the festival has flourished into one of the best nights of concert music Mid-Missouri has to offer.

Tickets range from $25 to $65. Visit freindsofhistoricboonvillemo.org for more information.

Capital Jazz Festival

Angie Ward plays and arranges music for the Kansas City-based James Ward Band, who have played the Capital Jazz Festival for the past two years.

The people who organize the Capital Jazz Festival in Jefferson City have no ulterior motive. The Jazz Forward Initiative’s mission is plain and simple: to support, preserve, and continue America’s national treasure, jazz music.

That’s why, for the twenty-fourth year in a row, the non-profit will present a full day of free outdoor jazz concerts down the street from the Missouri State Capitol building. This year’s lineup hasn’t been announced, but if it continues in the tradition of past years, it will surely be an enlightening day of concert jazz.

Visit capjazz.org or call 573-635-6866 for more information.

Dancefestopia From September 11 to 14, Berkley Riverfront Park will become Kansas City’s largest dance floor. For the fourth year in a row, Dancefestopia will bring in more than eighty electronic dance artists and forty-five thousand people for the four days of music and camping.

The sixty-five acres of beautiful parkland along the Missouri River offer a stunning view of Kansas City. To add to the fun, the festival features lightshows on three stages, a beer garden, and music zones outside of the concerts.

With all the dancing, music, beer, and camping, it’s an amazing feat that the festival staff keep it safe. In fact, the Kansas City Police Department commented that it had one of the lowest incident rates for any event of any kind in recent memory.

Past headliners have included artists that range from rapper Wiz Khalifa to electronic dance fusion band Beats Antique. Tickets range from $35 to $250, and for the past two years, camping passes have sold out completely. Visit dancefestopia.com for more information.

COURTESY OF MISS N SCENE, CAPITAL JAZZ FEST, AND MIKE KELLNER

Canadian duo DVBBS—brothers Alex and Chris van den Hoef—performed at last year’s Dancefestopia.

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Outkast—known for the platinum-selling singles “Hey Ya!” and “Ms. Jackson”—headline the 2014 LouFest in Forest Park and played for more than an hour and a half on Sunday night.

COURTESY OF REAGAN HACKLEMAN

LouFest LouFest is the closest Missouri comes to having a music festival on the scale of Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, or any of the other much-talkedabout, nationally recognized rock and pop festivals.

Inhabiting the same grounds where the 1904 Olympics and 1904 World’s Fair were held, LouFest has turned Forest Park into a two-day festival where you can see some of the best new artists in the world. Since the festival started in 2010, LouFest has grown, from having up-and-coming artists, such as She & Him, to having Outkast—one of the most well-repected hip-hop bands and best-selling artists of all time—as the headliners.

This year, the festival is returning on September 12 and 13. Although, the lineup will not be announced until May, it is sure to be one of the best weekends for fans of new music; that’s why the festival sold out

Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival completely last year, bringing in about 36,000 people.

And bringing in national talent isn’t the only reason LouFest stands as a titan among Missouri’s other music festivals. It also spotlights some of the best regional cuisine with the Noshpit, curated

by FEAST magazine; last year’s Noshpit featured booths from the excellent Strange Doughnuts and one of St. Louis’s best Mexican restaurants, Mission Taco Joint.

Plus, the festival features a market where local artists, artisans, and boutiques sell everything from vintage clothing to screen-printed posters. Plus, there’s a kids’ area, which makes taking the whole family easy. To top it all off, there are autograph tents set up, so you can meet your favorite bands of the weekend.

Last year, single day passes sold for $60 and VIP packages went for $350. Keep an eye out for more details at loufest.com.

The Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival combines two quintessential Missouri pastimes—barbecue and the blues—to create the perfect combination for a late-summer’s weekend in Columbia.

For the ninth year, this festival will bring in more than thirty national and regional artists and scores of saucy barbecue vendors.

In the past, the festival has featured everyone from legendary artists—Taj Mahal, Al Green, Jimmy Cliff, Roseanne Cash—to local favorites, like The Hooten Hollers, Vulvette, and Chump Change.

This year, the festival will be held at Stephens Lake Park, just a stone’s throw from Downtown Columbia, during the last weekend of September. The festival will also feature a 10K and half-marathon on Saturday morning and a gospel revue on Sunday morning. Tickets range $45 for a Friday pass to $525 for the Platinum Pig VIP pass, which includes artist meet-andgreets, backstage access, gourmet barbecue, and more. Visit rootsnbluesnbbq.com for more information.

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Night

LIFE 2015

Fancy a night on the town?

From Broadway productions to five-star restaurants, Missouri’s nightlife thrives across the state.

Vibrant festivals and exciting stage performances are endless.

Contemplate fine art or take in a movie. After the sun goes down, Missourians go out.

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Night LIFE WINE, DINE, PLAY, STAY! Upcoming Events APRIL 17-19 • BBQ & Bluesfest • Vintage Market APRIL 18-19 • Art Walk • Girlfriends’ Weekend MAY 15-17 • Art Fair and Winefest JUNE 18 • Thirsty Thursday Sunset on the Riverfront - Fourth Thursday April-Sept.

PREVIOUS PAGE PHOTOS COURTESY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY, SILVER DOLLAR CITY, VIN DE SET, JEFFERSON CITY, SPRINGFIELD, AND TRUMAN STATE UNIVERSITY; ISTOCK

Music at the Market Second Thursday May - October

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Night LIFE

Enjoy life’s many flavors.

Check out all the great things to see and do in Springfield at VacationSpringfield.com or call 800-678-8767.

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DISCOVER a NIGHT on the TOWN

CONTACT US FOR YOUR VISITORS GUIDE

866-385-0519 HISTORICSTCHARLES.COM [51] April 2015

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Night LIFE

The Great Race is coming to Rolla, MO! Experience the spirit of the race and join us for the

Saturday, June 20

11 am to 3 pm in Downtown Rolla Missouri’s only daytime race stop!

Featuring....

DAYS OF FUN 300 Miles across missouri 2015 Concert LINEUP

JUNE.bigbamride.

21-27, 2015 www

ROLLA REFUEL FESTIVAL

com

Brewer & Shipley split lip Rayfield SHEL Tyrannosaurus Chicken Ha Ha Tonka

Roflulael

The Great Jason Divad Kasey Rausch Brody Buster Band Tyler Gregory The stone Sugar Shakedown The Marcus King Band The Big Idea The meanwells

Re

• Local Car Cruise In • Live Music • Games • Food Vendors • Opportunity to visit with race participants • Up close look at Great Race cars • And more!

Call 800-492-2593 ext.102 for tickets and more information

Hosted by Rolla Area Chamber of Commerce

www.bigbamride.com

www.VisitRolla.com

Eat.

Stay.

5

Days of riding DAYS OF MUSIC

Discover.

Enjoy.

660-665-3766 [52] MissouriLife

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Getaway this spring to

PHOTO BY MARY LOUGHLIN

Missouri’s most Beautiful Town

Tour of Hermann ...................................... April 11-12 Antique Show .................................................. April 18 Wedding Trail .................................................. April 26 Wild Bacon Wine Trail ..................................May 2-3 Maifest ..........................................................May 15-17 Blue Oval Ford Rally ................................May 21-23

Wineries • B&Bs • Historic District • VisitHermann.com • 800-932-8687

Eat.

Stay.

Discover.

Enjoy.

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PLAYING † for BLOOD Discover the rise and fall of the original Bald Knobbers of Southwest Missouri.

The settlement of America’s frontier is rife with stories of vigilantes—masked self-appointed avengers who descended on their victims brandishing whips, guns, and hanging ropes. Many such organizations started out professing the best of intentions, only to descend into violence and mayhem. Initially, the small farmers who donned masks in the Black Patch Tobacco Wars of Western Kentucky simply wanted to sell their tobacco at a fair price. And the vigilante groups of earlyday San Francisco and Virginia City set out only to protect their fellow citizens from rampant criminal violence. Yet, as the membership lists grew, the objectives rapidly transmogrified into something sinister.

So it was when the Bald Knobber “vigilance committee” of Taney County launched its first foray, against the notorious Taylor Brothers.

Arguably, Tubal and Frank Taylor were fitting candidates for the Bald Knobbers’ brand of vigilante justice. To the residents of the Missouri Ozarks of 1884, the two were well-known criminals who roamed the region perpetrating crimes that ranged from banal to sadistic. They stole chickens, shot up the local towns, took what they wanted, beat their critics, and mutilated animals for sport. When a farmer brought an indictment against Tubal, he went into hiding. On

April 8 of the following year, Frank was indicted for trashing the Eglinton general store and threatening to kill the owner, who immediately swore out a complaint against him. Two days later, the two brothers entered the store and shot both the owner and his wife, wounding them seriously but not fatally. On April 15, Frank and Tubal were locked in Forsyth’s county jail pending indictment.

At ten o’clock that evening, some seventy-five to a hundred armed men rode quietly into town and dismounted at the jail. One stepped up and smashed the lock with a few blows of a sledge hammer, and a handful of the men dragged the brothers, weeping and screaming, from their cell. They tied them on two horses and silently rode out of town. After riding two miles, the grim party halted, and a rope was thrown over the limb of a scrub oak tree. The vigilantes, silent as the boys pleaded for their lives, placed the noose ends around their necks and led away the horses. The Taylor brothers were found suspended from the oak limb the next morning, with a placard affixed to Tubal’s shirt: “Beware! These are the first victims to the wrath of outraged citizens. More will follow. The Bald Knobbers.”

�� By Ron Soodalter ��

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW BARTON

A HARSH JUSTICE

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“BEWARE! THESE ARE THE FIRST VICTIMS TO THE WRATH OF OUTRAGED CITIZENS. MORE WILL FOLLOW. THE BALD KNOBBERS.”

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The Shepherd of the Hills—the 1919 film adaptation of Harold Bell Wright’s novel of the same name—portrayed the masked Bald Knobbers in historically accurate detail.

FOUNDING A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE Missouri had long been ripe for the birth of a vigilance committee. In the years before the Civil War, its citizens were divided by violently opposing political views. During the conflict, Missouri was hotly contested by pro- and anti-slavery forces and was the scene of depredations by the likes of such murderous bushwhackers as William T. “Bloody Bill” Anderson and William Clarke Quantrill on the Southern side, not to mention the fanatical John R. Kelso for the North. Both Union and Confederate detachments burned entire towns—including Forsyth, the Taney County seat. Southwest Missouri’s rural economy suffered accordingly. Farms stood empty, fields fallow, as Missourians on both sides were driven from their homes and from the state.

In the years following the Southern defeat, unreconstructed rebel outlaw bands such as the James and Younger gangs sprang up across the state, plundering at will and justifying murder and mayhem in the name of the Lost Cause. In many instances, what law there was had long since proved ineffectual or strongly biased, and inevitably, the vacuum it left made room for a strong vigilante organization.

By 1885, law enforcement in Taney County consisted only of a sheriff and his two deputies. Within a short time, the county went through four sheriffs, one of whom had been shot to death. On April 5, one hundred angry men held a meeting on a treeless ridge—a “bald knob” in local parlance—near Kirbyville. It was to be the first gathering of the Bald Knobbers: an organization born of both frustration and hope for the future.

In the words of regional historian Matthew J. Hernando, “Their goals included establishing an honest and thrifty local government and making the county safe for immigration, new businesses, and investment.”

Its members were committed to building a modern, progressive society in the Ozarks, “bringing to the region roads, bridges, railroads, banks, greater social stability, and opportunities for profitable business,” and they proscribed as enemies the lawbreakers whom they saw as obstacles to this vision. Many of the members were Union veterans, and nearly all were Republicans. A number of them had moved here from Northern states, and they were mostly members of the middle or upper class. The rolls consisted largely of attorneys, businessmen, merchants, and politicians.

At this time, vigilantism was very much a part of American life. However, where many Southern and Western vigilance committees were created as laws unto themselves, the Bald Knobbers did not consider their new body to be extralegal. They saw themselves, observes Hernando, “as an adjunct to existing law enforcement. In their own eyes, they were acting mainly as ‘militant reinforcements’ to the new Republican regime.”

The leader of the Bald Knobbers was a giant of a man named Nathaniel N. “Nat” Kinney. Although reports of his size varied, according to some accounts, he stood a well-proportioned six feet, seven inches tall, with broad shoulders and a sweeping black moustache. Kinney was a recent arrival in Taney County, having moved from Springfield just two

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Nathaniel N. “Nat” Kinney was the leader of the original Bald Knobbers, before other chapters were started.

According to legend, he stood over six feet tall and always had two guns on his person.

years earlier. He had a somewhat peripatetic history. Originally a native of West Virginia, he had fought for the Union, and after the war, had moved to Indiana, Colorado, and Topeka, Kansas, where he worked as a superintendent on the railroad. In 1880, he left Topeka for Springfield and eventually made his way to Taney County.

The Bald Knobber vigilance committee was the last in a series of organizations Kinney had joined. While living in Topeka, he became an officer in both the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Topeka Rifles, a strike-breaking local militia created by the railroad. He was also a member of the Grange and the Grand Army of the Republic, despite being an outspoken supporter of the Democratic Party. His personality matched his size, and he soon made himself noticed in and around Forsyth.

Like Kinney, many of the Bald Knobbers had come to Southwest Missouri after the war to take advantage of the cheap land. In the late 1860s, the federal government made available some three hundred thousand acres in Taney County and offered much of it to homesteaders for nominal fees. Still, despite the increased availability of affordable, arable land, Taney County remained relatively poor in comparison to its neighboring counties—a source of frustration to its more upwardly mobile citizenry, who blamed much of the county’s misfortunes on rampant crime and political corruption. Their perception of the criminal situation was accurate. In 1860, just prior to the war, the inmate population of the state’s prisons was 286. By 1880, the number had swelled to 2,041. Journalists at the time reported that, in the two decades following the war’s end, there were upward of forty murders in Taney County alone and not a single conviction. Although this number might have been inflated, there existed an undeniable atmosphere of violence. The Bald Knobbers considered themselves the remedy for what ailed Taney County, and it would ultimately prove to be harsh medicine indeed.

THE BALD KNOBBERS RIDE After voting to form a “committee for law and order,” the Bald Knobbers divided up into legions, each commanded by a captain. Big Nat Kinney was named chieftain of the whole organization. When they hanged the two Taylor boys less than two weeks later, the seriousness of their purpose became clear to all. And while some community members condemned the Bald Knobbers’ actions, their ranks soon swelled to more than three hundred men.

Many of the members adhered to their original program of aiding law enforcement by punishing violent offenses and crimes against property, as well as preventing a return of the Democrats to power. Still, there were those in the committee’s burgeoning ranks—men whom one his-

torian describes as a hard core of extremists and radicals—who allowed the violence to get out of hand. Soon, they were staging nocturnal raids not only on criminals, but also on those whom they considered undesirables. The list included gamblers, wife beaters, and homesteaders, or squatters. One old timer recalled, “It was rough. You had to walk a straight line. If a man began getting ornery with his wife, she’d let the Bald Knobbers know and they’d slip down and beat him up.” And since many of the Bald Knobbers earned at least a part of their living by cutting and selling timber, those squatters who presumed to fell logs on land claimed, or simply used, by the vigilantes became targets of their wrath.

“Still others,” states Hernando, “the Bald Knobbers forced out simply because they somehow had managed to anger, annoy, or inconvenience the vigilantes.”

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"THE VIGILANTES HAD TRANSFORMED THEMSELVES FROM RIGHTEOUS DEFENDERS OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY INTO

In The Shepherd of the Hills, Wash Gibbs is the leader of the fictionalized version of the Bald Knobbers, who act more as a gang than as a group that serves up justice to deserving criminals.

MURDERERS, OUTLAWS, AND SOCIAL PARIAHS.”

The night riders sometimes worked in conjunction with the courts.

On one occasion, they scooped up two men who were carrying concealed weapons and deposited them in the county jail. Social position mattered little. To the Bald Knobbers’ thinking, no one was so highly placed that he could not be brought down, should the situation warrant it. With questionable justification, they drove out a respected justice of the peace and raided the home of a minister and sitting judge who happened to hold a lease to property that some of the vigilantes coveted.

It is estimated that scores, and possibly hundreds, of residents and their families were warned away and driven from the county by the night riders. As the violence escalated, a contingent began to form in opposition to the Bald Knobbers. In February 1886, Nat Kinney himself shot and killed a young man with whom he had been carrying on a personal feud. Although he was exonerated, many felt that he had gotten away with murder. It was exactly the sort of situation the Bald Knobbers had been created to stop.

With this killing, the Anti-Bald Knobber faction solidified as a cohesive body, intent on stopping the violence. The differences between the two groups were palpable. Where the Bald Knobbers were overwhelmingly pro-Union men and Republicans, their opponents were almost all Southern-born Democrats with long-standing Rebel sympathies. They were also mostly farmers who were steeped in and committed to the traditional rural and agricultural values of the Ozarks.

The Anti-Bald Knobbers petitioned the governor to allow them to form a home militia, in order to counter the acts of their adversaries.

They requested weapons with which to combat the vigilantes; the governor refused. Instead, he sent his adjutant general, J.C. Jamison, who gave the Bald Knobbers two choices: disband immediately or face a state militia. The vigilantes chose the path of moderation, and on April 10, 1886, the Bald Knobbers of Taney County officially disbanded—at least on paper.

Most of the members left off their vigilante activities, turning instead to a more conventional path. They saw to it that the local political offices were filled with ex-Bald Knobbers and proceeded to use the courts to prosecute offenders, most of whom were Democrats and members of the Anti-Bald Knobber faction. And prosecute they did, often to the point of persecution. The most trivial offenses, such as the seining of fish and hunting without a license, were flagged, and the offenders fined or jailed. Former night riders were now using their own political machine to harass their adversaries and maintain control of the community.

A small number of Bald Knobbers under Nat Kinney had refused to heed the adjutant general’s call to disband. They continued to meet and to ride down on their neighbors. Meanwhile, natives of nearby Christian and Douglas counties formed their own iterations of the vigilance committees. Although they were made up of the same class of citizens who had opposed the Taney County vigilantes, they chose to borrow the Bald

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mounted men carrying torches and wearing these ghoulish masks was chilling to behold.

Some of their victims were guilty of nothing more egregious than being public nuisances, or simply criticizing the vigilantes. Saloon keepers and gamblers were primary targets, as the vigilantes set about destroying various dens of iniquity. As the movement spread across Missouri, Knobbers turned their attention to discouraging new homesteaders. They burned down houses, barns, and other structures; whipped, beat, and shot the settlers; and conducted a general reign of terror.

COURTESY OF THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS

The Sheperd of Hills is performed as a play in Branson at an outdoor theater. Here, they reenact the Bald Knobbers’ terror in rural southwest Missouri, setting a cabin ablaze in the night.

Knobber name, perhaps because Nat Kinney himself served as their “advisor” in adapting the structure of the original band.

However, that was where the similarity ended. Where the original Taney County members had been professional men, the Bald Knobbers of Christian and Douglas counties were mostly farmers. They were poorer, more religiously driven, and quicker to use violence in their efforts to drive out the unwanted and the unrighteous.

They instituted whippings and worse to drive their message home.

They maintained a narrow moral agenda and set out to ensure that it was adhered to, with torture and death held out as the penalties for transgressors. According to one judge who presided over a subsequent murder trial, they “thought that they had a right to go out and make humanity do right according to their notions of right.”

The new Bald Knobbers differed from the original chapter in another, more dramatic way. The Taney County Bald Knobbers—who believed, at least initially, that they were acting on behalf of law enforcement—saw no need to disguise themselves. The newly-formed so-called Bald Knobbers of Christian and Douglas counties distinguished themselves by the wearing of masks—and they were terrifying; made of black cambric or calico, with the eyes and mouth cut out and outlined in white and a pair of rigid horns protruding from the top, they covered the entire head. The sight of dozens of

THE FINAL STRAW On the night of March 11, 1887, they went too far. Fortified on local whiskey, a mob of twenty-five to thirty members of the Christian County chapter broke into a cabin where two families—the Edenses and the Greenes—were staying. The sleeping inhabitants included an infant, its sick mother, and two young children. One of the Edens clan had spoken disparagingly about the vigilantes, and they were bent on retribution. Without hesitation, they smashed down the door with an axe, shot two men to death in front of their families, grievously wounded a third, and blew a finger off the hand of one of the women when she deflected a gun barrel aimed at her head. As chronicler Hernando put it, within a few moments’ time, “the vigilantes had transformed themselves from righteous defenders of … Christian morality into murderers, outlaws, and social pariahs.”

The legal floodgates opened. Some eighty men were indicted, twenty-five for the Edens-Greene outrage alone. Several men received fines, others were sentenced to prison terms, and four of the murderers were condemned to die. One escaped; the other three, including their chieftain, were hanged.

There was still the odd outbreak of violence. In August 1888, after several unsuccessful attempts, the Anti-Bald Knobbers succeeded in assassinating Nat Kinney in retribution for the man he had slain years earlier. But for all intents and purposes, the Bald Knobber vigilante movement was dead. Begun as an earnest attempt to right wrongs and improve the community, it had transplanted and degenerated into a bastion for masked thugs, bigots, and bullies and was best left as an artifact of Missouri’s wilder frontier past.

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THE

Town

Ghost Town AND THE

Visit Pattonsburg to see what happens when you pick up an entire town and move it.

BY ABIGAIL HOLMAN

Warford putters around his home while tending to his dog and the many machines floating around in his barns. His grass is cut, and decorations brighten the outside of his house. To the left are overgrown fields. To the right, an old wooden house sits abandoned, boxes and appliances still in view through the cracked and broken windows. The many crumbling buildings and remnants of a town left behind are stark in contrast to Lyle’s maintained homestead.

The old city hall still stands, trees growing from its foundation and windows long gone. Outside the school building, a rotted desk sits trapped in time, patiently waiting for someone to return. The First Christian Church remains and still holds services in the building; a cornerstone marks it as 114 years old.

MFA grain bins are the only towering structures on the skyline. But that’s it. That’s what you get when you pick up a town and move it.

ABIGAIL HOLMAN

In old Pattonsburg, Lyle

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At the corner of Main and Second Streets in old Pattonsburg, the First Christian Church and a branch of the Grand River MFA are the two most active buildings in the area.

ABIGAIL HOLMAN

The Great Flood

Everyone who was there remembers the spring of 1993. With enough rain to drown an entire town, the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers flooded. The damage from the flooding hurt the entire Midwest but nearly destroyed Pattonsburg.

When government aid came in as flood waters receded, local officials saw the opportunity to relocate the town near the new interstate, which would potentially drive traffic back to local businesses and start growth again. David Warford, the mayor at the time, visited Valmeyer, Illinois, after an invitation from environmental professional Nancy Skinner. At the time of David’s visit, Nancy was in the process of using federal aid to relocate and build more energy-efficient structures.

Nancy, an entrepreneur from Chicago, watched the floods of 1993 ravage the Midwest and developed an idea: why not spend federal relief aid on moving these towns to higher ground instead of rebuilding on the same flood plains? After many phone calls to government officials, Nancy got in touch with Bill Becker at the Department of Energy who had a vested interest in the topic because his hometown of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, had been moved to higher ground in 1978.

Through a Federal Emergency Management Administration agent, Nancy heard a rumor that Pattonsburg desired to move toward I-35, construct a few truck stops to draw in passing travelers, and maybe improve the town’s economy. Nancy’s new model of town relocation turned out to be a perfect match for David Warford, who after the meeting, volunteered Pattonsburg as the design team’s next project.

While not all residents were thrilled with the idea of relocating the town, a study by the Army Corps of Engineers found that federal flood control efforts would be less expensive and more effective if people moved out of the flood plains once and for all. Deciding to experiment with this relief strategy, FEMA agreed to finance Pattonsburg’s move. At twelve million dollars, it was the largest post-flood relocation in the nation’s history.

Residents talked about what the new town should look like and offered ideas during planning sessions. When the design team finally visited the site of the new town—a tract of land purchased from several farmers that stood on a hill about a quarter of a mile from the interstate—they took into account existing tree lines, ponds, and storm water drainage before making the plan for the new Pattonsburg.

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In the center of the new Pattonsburg, the business disctrict operates in what was designed to be the town square. Here, you can find a handful of shops to visit.

The Cherry on Top

Today, the city plan for Pattonsburg is centered on being pedestrian friendly; no one is supposed to be more than a five-minute walk from downtown.

Approximately forty-five houses were moved from the flood plain, and around twenty more were built new during the move. Housing lots were drawn in a lottery system; older residents chose areas close to the center of town, while younger families chose larger lots on the outskirts. Neighbors were strung about in a random order. Houses were oriented in new ways. At first, the town seemed out of its element.

The retail district reflected the old; the businesses are all connected in two structures, one on each side of the street, with separate entrances. However, not all businesses transitioned to the new town. With the relocation, Pattonsburg lost its grocery store, drug store, pizzeria, and county library.

The flooding left most of the schools intact, so moving them was financially unnecessary. A day at school meant a commute to the former town. That changed in 1996 when the high school was destroyed in a fire. Administrators rebuilt a more efficient structure adequate for all the students.

Four monolithic domes became the town’s schools. They were modeled after buildings in Payson, Arizona, where similar domes were constructed quickly and deemed indestructible. Three house the elementary, middle, and high schools. The largest dome acts as the gymnasium and holds art and drama classes. The domes opened in 1998, becoming the cherry on top of a full-scale town move.

the history of each, though he claims not to remember much. The old white Victorian on the corner is home to the mayor. The modular home across the street is John Morris’s, a retired volunteer at the Tree Climbers Genealogy Society. Lyle points out one house that was moved on log rollers from the bottomland that is still his home.

The streets are quiet. Lyle rolls through a stop sign and back down Main Street to the wide retail strip.

“I don’t stop at stop signs,” Warford says. “There’s nobody coming.

It’d be a miracle if you saw anybody.”

But it wasn’t always like that.

The Original Pattonsburg

In 1839, Matthew Patton came to the area and built a saw and gristmill on Big Creek; everything then became centered on the mill. Farmers and businessmen in the area slowly began to build a new town, which became the original Pattonsburg.

In 1871, a railroad line from St. Louis to Omaha was constructed with a stop two miles south of Pattonsburg called Elm Flat. Elm Flat consisted only of a tent that housed the railroad office and post office. But with the enticing commerce of the railroad, Pattonsburg started migrating closer to the new tracks and closer to the floodplain.

Four railway lines became hubs in the area, bringing 1,100 people

The Town and the Ghost Town

Despite the new city and its careful planning, a few remain in old Pattonsburg. Some just didn’t relocate; others found it too costly. Lyle Warford chose not to relocate because he and his wife had already made the costly renovations from the flood damage. Moving would have been an even bigger investment.

Up the hill, the ten streets of new Pattonsburg aren’t much more lively than its former self down below. Lyle’s ancient Silverado idly drives the street grid, the breeze blowing through the window. With nonexistent afternoon foot traffic, Lyle can tour the town and end up back where he started in less than five minutes.

As he drives past the houses in the new town, he points and recites

A house abandoned after the the flood stands, decaying, in old Pattonsburg.

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The municipal building and water tower were two elements that the government rebuilt in the new town of Pattonsburg after it was relocated to its current position.

The entire Pattonsburg public school system is housed inside monolithic domes that are constructed as single-piece structures, which makes them resilient.

The Newest Town in America

with it. You could make your way from Omaha to Port Arthur, Louisiana or Quincy, Illinois with a stop in Elm Flat. The business district flourished with hotels, clothing shops, and family businesses. And with two town names in such a small area, a petition began to change the name of Elm Flat to Pattonsburg. In 1902, the name officially changed.

Eventually the railroad business faded and eventually closed down. The bad luck continued as the town experienced more than thirty floods in the early twentieth century. A fire destroyed part of the town, a tornado ripped through in 1928, and economic losses caused even bigger devastation when Highway 69 became a road less traveled.

Interstate 35 was constructed in the 1970s, just a few miles east of Pattonsburg, diverting traffic that once went through the heart of the town. The once prosperous town of over one thousand shriveled as businesses closed and residents moved. Intermittent flooding gave residents more reason to leave. The population fell to 316; businesses and homes boarded up windows, leaving little for those who remained.

If you pull off I-35 at exit 78, you can see the water tower just to the right, signifying the new Pattonsburg. The “Newest Town in America” sign has been taken down, but the remains of the fresh landscape are still obvious. Roads free of potholes and metal-sided city buildings blend with the modular homes in what looks to be a modern town with 150 years of history.

Rob’s Cycle takes up a block just north of the gas station; in a town of just over three hundred, Rob has just as many ATV’s in the shop as people in town. Maggie’s Memories Café is a great place for a slice of pie, and Lisa’s Sassy Scissors gives the best cuts in town.

Hartley’s service shop and Brown Lumber round out the essentials. Just down the road is Clark’s Wagon Wheel, where you can dance the night away.

With its new location so close to I-35, Pattonsburg is right in Kansas City’s backyard. But take a few country roads through the Great Plains to nearby Hamilton, Cameron, Albany, or Bethany, and you’ll discover Pattonsburg has become a part of a wider community—northwest Missouri.

Pattonsburg was one of the primary filming locations for the 1999 Civil War drama, directed by Ang Lee and starring Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, and Jewel Kilcher. The movie was based loosely on William Quantrill’s raid and the massacre at Lawrence, Kansas. Old Pattonsburg stood in for Lawrence, and the production team removed telephone poles and dumped truckloads of dirt to cover asphalt.

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Resilience

in PRACTICE What makes Eric Greitens tick?

BY WADE LIVINGSTON

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Soldier, leader, and author Eric Greitens reviews his schedule at The Greitens Group offices in St. Louis’s Central West End. His day included promoting his book and writing a recommendation for a prospective Navy SEAL.

HARRY KATZ

He doesn’t remember the blast from the suicide truck bomb. The aftermath is clearer. Soldiers coughing.

The burning in his throat. Blood on his uniform—not his own. He tells this story in one of his books, of sitting on a rooftop in Fallujah after the 2007 attack. He was battered, yet ready to fight. He felt lucky.

He had plenty of bullets, his med kit, the high ground, good cover, and a clear view of every approach. He knew he could stay there for hours if necessary, though he would eventually need some water.

But on this night, Eric Greitens offered wine with the lamb burgers with pita and greens. Everyone chose water. After dinner, Eric led his guests to a side room that is, most accurately, a library. He had one last story to tell. He wanted to ensure his company left full.

Eric stood in the middle of the library, which doubles as a makeshift home office. It houses several bookshelves sporting presidential biographies, multiple copies of the books he’s written, and atop one bookcase, his nearly five-inch thick Oxford dissertation on humanitarian aid for children in war zones.

Eric gestured toward the mantel.

On the mantel was Winston Churchill’s multivolume history of World War II, which was flanked on either side by two jugs like rooks on a chessboard protecting the assets in their charge.

The two jugs were adorned with drawings of Odysseus, who, like

Eric, endured quite the journey and told tales of it. But neither Churchill’s tomes nor the jugs interested Eric at the moment. He pointed at the framed print.

Above the mantel in his Central West End St. Louis home hangs Winslow Homer’s The Veteran in a New Field.

This is one of the paintings I included in Resilience, Eric said, referencing his fourth book, which debuted in March.

Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life is a collection of letters and emails that he wrote to his friend and fellow Navy SEAL, Zach Walker. Zach Walker is a pseudonym, but the problems Walker faced—re-acclimating to civilian life and searching for his purpose— are very real. Eric understands this, and he wants you to.

And so he told the story of Homer’s painting. The soldier sheds his uniform, picks up his scythe, and works the wheat field in front of him, his back toward the dark undertones—the past—that dominate the foreground. The golden wheat, a bountiful crop, lies ahead. Opportunity. A brilliant blue sky hovers above. Hope.

As he spoke, he looked at the print, then back to his guests. Eric Greitens—Missouri native; battle-tested Navy SEAL; Naval Reserve officer; White House fellow; nonprofit founder; leadership guru; Rhodes Scholar; author; businessman; public speaker—took shape.

His accomplishments manifest in his mannerisms and appearance.

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As a Navy SEAL officer, Eric was deployed four times to Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq. His awards include a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

His expression is disarming; intelligent blue eyes teem with energy but convey calm. His forehead is prominent, smooth and tall, the bow of a vessel awash with analogies of ancient wisdom: as the archer must draw back the bow to propel the arrow forward, so too must we look back on our past to realize our purpose, he might say, though more eloquently. There are scars around his jawline, one the result of an elbow he took in a boxing match.

The flecks of gray hair denote a man in his early forties; his physique is that of an athlete untouched by middle age. His hand offers a firm shake, controlled, not domineering; the calluses, which he’ll pick at during a business call, bespeak blue-collar values, the kind that prefer used cars over new. His palms are dry, his nails neatly clipped.

Skeptics who meet the man might find themselves flummoxed. How can someone be so … good? They might liken him to Ed Harris’s portrayal of astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff.

In the movie, Glenn is cast as the all-American frontman of the Mercury Seven. He knows just what to say and might be too perfect, but his lesspolished colleagues come to see him as the glue of the group and, maybe, the leader. And Eric has many followers.

Krystal Taylor is one of them. She’s worked for Eric since 2011. “Eric has challenged me to do things I never thought I could do,” she says.

Earlier in the day, after lunch, Eric rushed off to a private meeting and left his guests with Krystal, vice president of the Greitens Group. The for-profit arm of Eric’s business offers corporate leadership training, organizes speaking gigs, and promotes his books: Strength and Compassion, The Heart and the Fist, The Warrior’s Heart, and Resilience.

Krystal knows Eric as a man who might have been a bit nervous before his 2011 appearance on The Colbert Report; he researched Stephen Colbert, studied clips of others’ appearances. “He likes to have a model,” she says. He prefers jeans; “He likes to be comfortable.” He enjoys Thai food and the occasional chocolate-chip cookie but tries to avoid caffeine.

Krystal says his smoothies, which he sips throughout the day, are his fuel.

But what really fuels Eric is his work with veterans through The Mission Continues (TMC). That’s where many of his conversations start and end. And that’s where Krystal chauffeured his guests for a tour.

Eric founded TMC in 2007 with his own combat pay. At that time, he was sleeping on an air mattress in a barren apartment.

TMC occupies the ground floor of 1141 South Seventh Street in St. Louis. A stack of cinder blocks greets visitors. On them are the organization’s principles: work hard; trust; learn and grow; respect; have fun.

TIME magazine’s Joe Klein featured TMC in the publication’s cover story in June 2013. Klein worried about the problems veterans faced when they returned home. PTSD. Alcohol and drug abuse. Suicide. He asked a simple question: can service save us? A few months later, for a follow-up story, Klein had his answer. Yes. TMC provides a certain number of veterans with community service fellowships at nonprofits throughout the country. It also organizes platoons of veteran volunteers around community-improvement projects.

TMC staffers, such as Meredith Knopp, vice president of programs, and Lyndsey Reichardt, development director, vouch for Eric’s prowess as a charismatic, in-the-trenches leader, the kind Fortune magazine ranked among the top fifty leaders in the world, at number thirty-eight.

TMC staff tell stories about physical fitness days that he organizes for the crew. He once led them to the Arch on a cold, rainy November day for some exercise. Eric was right beside them, doing calisthenics and lugging the five cinder blocks around in the mud. Tourists snapped pictures. It was a fun outing, though no one thought to bring towels or clean clothes; the challenge was getting back to the office without soiling their cars. Improvise, adapt, overcome, as Eric might say.

Meredith and Lyndsey quote Eric and use his analogies. A staple is the compass, TMC’s original logo. If you can make one degree of positive change in your life, they’ll say, that’s a start. Challenge yourself. Take action.

Challenge is a word Eric is fond of. Purpose is another.

Earlier in the day, Eric lunched with Tim Smith, one of the first TMC fellows. They discussed issues facing veterans upon their return from combat.

He founded TMC with combat pay.

At the time, he was sleeping on an air mattress in a barren apartment.

COURTESY OF THE MISSION CONTINUES

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HARRY KATZ

Eric’s idea behind founding The Mission Continues is that veterans need a purpose; finding that can change their lives.

challenge

What are the problems, in Eric’s opinion? A system that prescribes pills, delivers disability checks, addresses wounds, and not much more. A system that fails to challenge veterans to further service—to realize their purpose.

But, as Eric says, veterans can change the narrative and author their own stories. Tim shared his.

The Army veteran served in Iraq. Eight of his friends died in an IED blast.

When he returned home, he struggled. He was unemployed for months. With one child and another on the way, he and his wife moved in with his mother.

As the lunch guests slurped their noodles and picked at their rice, Tim recounted how he had gone back to school, met Eric, and become a TMC fellow. Now, he’s a successful businessman—the president of Patriot Commercial Cleaning, which employs veterans in need of a mission.

As Tim talked across the table at Café Saigon, Eric smiled. It was an easy smile, barely wrinkling his face.

Eric joined the conversation.

“Have you read the chapter on ‘Story’ in Resilience?” he asked. Seeing blank looks, he continued.

As a writer, he said, you understand the power of the narrative, our personal stories. You learn that our own stories are meaningful, and you realize the opportunity to make meaning of them. The gist, to

Five cinder blocks emblazoned with the nonprofit’s values greet visitors to the offices of The Mission Continues. TMC staffers use them for team-building activities during field days.

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purpose paraphrase his writing in Resilience: you have to wrestle with your past to navigate your future, to find your purpose.

Eric entered the conversation, offering context to Tim’s story. He wasted no words, with the economy of a writer who admires Hemingway. He was empathetic, but above all, he spoke with conviction. He is a believer—in himself and his work.

As Eric spoke, Tim nodded. He is a believer, too.

Lunch ended. Eric had finished half of his dollop of rice. He placed his napkin over the uneaten food. The two men walked back to Eric’s office.

The office space is new; the Greitens Group relocated from the TMC complex to a location closer to his home in August. The move coincided with Eric’s departure as CEO of TMC. He now serves on its board of directors.

Eric describes his personal office as Spartan. It is. Several tables have been pushed together to form a large desk. There’s a telephone. A rolling whiteboard. A large bookcase occupies the near wall and houses copies of The Heart and the Fist. A few pictures sit on the bookcase. One of Eric with his brothers. Another of the entire family. One of him and his wife, Sheena. And a picture of Eric with his nine-month old son, Joshua.

Fatherhood is Eric’s newest challenge; he’s struggling to feed Joshua without making a mess.

When he talks about Joshua, Eric smiles—really smiles. He might even guffaw, the veins in his forehead flaring. It’s unrestrained emotion, which the public might rarely see. He is a polished, focused man whose lone flaw, as a TMC staffer says, is landing a joke.

Eric is less guarded when he talks about Zach Walker, his muse for Resilience. Earlier in the day, I’d asked him to tell me a story about Zach. He thought for a moment. He recounted Hell Week during SEAL training.

As darkness fell, a calorie-deprived Eric had just finished a medical check and was heading to change his uniform before the hazing resumed. Zach, who’d previously survived the crucible, passed him on the way.

“Hey, Mr. G, I got ya,” Zach said, cryptically.

Eric was confused.

He reached the changing station and donned his camouflage shirt.

Drill instructors yelled. They sprayed him with a fire hose. They demanded pushups.

Eric assumed the position. He lowered his body to the ground. And then he felt it—in the chest pocket of his shirt. A bulge. A Clif Bar. Calories. Camaraderie.

The water pelted his face. He smiled.

Eric is a man who speaks in stories. And all of them have a point.

As I stood in the library and listened to Eric tell the day’s final tale, that of Homer’s painting, I wondered about Eric’s future. Public service?

Political office? Perhaps. He’s considering how best to serve in the next phase of his life. What’s ahead in his wheat field?

And I found myself wondering about my own field. I believe that was his purpose.

HARRY KATZ

Eric holds his son Joshua, who is only nine months old, in front of a print of Winslow Homer’s painting The Veteran in a New Field—an 1865 painting of a veteran of the Union army.

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TOWN GUIDE June 21-June 26 • bigbamride.com [69] April 2015

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Register Now!

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FULL RIDE: $189 DAY PASS: $45/day CONCERT COST FOR NON-RIDERS: $9/night

bigbamride.com

The Schedule

Tyrannosaurus Chicken

Sunday June 21

Monday June 22

Tuesday June 23

BIG BAM FESTIVAL PRE-PARTY

DAY 1 • ROCK

DAY 2 • CLASSIC ROCK

3 PM • Check-in and Pre-Party in Rock Port City Park

8–10 AM • Start the ride at Rock Port

8–9 AM • Depart Maryville

9 AM–Noon • The music begins in Tarkio.

Band TBA in Neidermeyer Park (9 miles)

9–11 AM • David Knopf in Downtown Hopkins City Park (14 miles)

11 AM–1 PM • Tyler Gregory in Burlington Junction City Park (25 miles)

11 AM–1 PM • Kasey Rausch in Sheridan City Park (26 miles)

4:30 PM • Arrive in Maryville (40 miles)

12:30–4 PM • Band TBA in Grant City Town Square (39 miles)

6 PM • SP3 8 PM • Tyrannosaurus Chicken

Shuttle Service Available for registered riders, park in Canton or Rock Port and ride the shuttle to the beginning of the course on the first or final day. A charter bus to transport gear and bicycles is included with the shuttle service.

$95 per person 12 PM, Sunday, June 21 9 AM, Saturday, June 27

TBA • Radio Station Hoe Down and Talent Show

3–5 PM • Stop in Allendale (46 miles)

7 PM • Brody Buster Band in Donaldson Westside Park

5:30 PM • Arrive in Albany at the MU Extension Farm (64 miles)

8:15 PM • The Great Jason Divad – Fire Juggler

6 PM • Stone Sugar Shake Down

9 PM • Ha Ha Tonka

8 PM • Brewer and Shipley

Plenty of food and Missouri craft beer!

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Ravanna

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Princeton

The Route

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Kirksville F

Canton

10 MILES 10 MILES

Big BAM Town Stop Big BAM Festival Town

Overnight Town Overnight Town

Chicken

Stone Sugar Shake Down

Acoustic Anonymous

25 MILES 25 MILES 304 Big BAM Mileage 304 Big BAM Mileage

Split Lip Rayfield

Wednesday June 24

Thursday June 25

Friday June 26

DAY 3 • STOMP GRASS

DAY 4 • EASY RIDING

DAY 5 • TGIF

7–8 AM • Depart Albany

9-10 AM • Depart Unionville

7–8 AM • Depart Kirksville

8–10 AM • Quick rest in Bethany (19 miles)

10 AM–1 PM • Overton Landing in Martinstown (17 miles)

10AM-12 PM • Quick rest in Baring (24 miles)

11:30 AM–2 PM • The Big Idea in downtown Novinger City Park (32 miles)

10 AM–Noon • Mercer and Johnson in Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage (30 miles)

1:30 PM • Arrive in Kirksville (39 miles)

11 AM–3 PM • The Meanwells in Rutlege City Park (34 miles)

10 AM–1 PM • Deer Run Drifters at the Mount Moriah City Park (33 miles) 1–3 PM • Boone County Tick Pickers in Princeton Town Square (46 miles) 2–4 PM • Ghost River Revue in downtown Ravanna City Park (54 miles)

2 PM - Downtown party featuring food, music, and entertainment

2–5 PM • Stop for lunch in the Lucerne food pasture (66 miles)

7:30 PM • The Marcus King Band at Ray Klingsmith Amphitheater

6:30 PM • Arrive in Unionville City Park (81 miles)

9 PM • SHEL

7 PM • Acoustic Anonymous

11 PM • After party at Dunkum Inn Bar and Grill

5:30 PM • Arrive in Canton (80 miles) Block Party 6 PM • TBA 9 PM • TBA

Presented by

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Powered by the wind and just off the Missouri River, Rock Port awaits.

TUCKED AWAY IN THE FAMOUS Loess Hills of northwest Missouri is Rock Port, just eight miles east of the Missouri River, in case you want to dip your tires in the great river’s muddy waters before the festival.

Boasting a proud past and a bold future, the city is most notable for its legendary wind power.

The City of Rock Port was founded in 1851 by Nathan Meek and established in 1855. Rock Port became the county seat of Atchison County in 1856.

Atchison County Courthouse

The spire of the historic county courthouse towers above the town that 1,318 people call “home” today.

Ask any citizen of Rock Port—residents are proud of their past, especially those who have served to protect our great country.

Take for instance the Atchison County Memorial Building.

In the early 1900s, local residents raised funds to construct the building in honor of those in service of our country. It continues that purpose today, and an adjoining memorial was added: The Walk of Honor.

This historic building does more than honor our veterans; it also serves the community as a theater. Liberty Theatre, located

inside the Memorial Building, produces plays throughout the year with the help of volunteers and continues a long tradition of stage productions.

Specialty and antique shops, restaurants, and historic sites line the Main Street Business District.

Rock Port Memorial Park is home to the local swimming pool, sand volleyball court, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, a basketball court, and picnic area. The park is next to the Rock Port Golf and Country Club.

The city is best known for being the first community capable of being powered completely by wind.

Rock Port’s central location attracts visitors from neighboring towns in Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska as well as tourists traveling Interstate 29 and Highway 136.

Rock Port has it all: convenience stores, a grocery store, motels, family restaurants, fast food, a truck wash, auto and truck repair, a bowling alley, and of course, fireworks.

As the town motto goes: “In Rock Port we have a proud past, a bold future, and are proud to be Blue Jays!” This community, with its locally owned shops, historic homes, legendary wind turbines, local pride, and rolling landscape, is a for sure stop on any trip through northwest Missouri.

Check in for Big BAM is Sunday and the festivities begin at Rock Port City Park, only three blocks from Main Street. Local businesses are having a window decorating contest to see who can welcome Big BAM riders the best.

Plan on shopping before you set out on your journey, as many of the local stores will have booths set up at the park.

If you choose to stay overnight Sunday, Rock Port Riversedge Campground in town and Lied Lodge at Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, Nebraska are good choices.

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Tarkio (mile 9) Named after the Native American word for walnut, Tarkio celebrates a rich heritage.

Tarkio is the birthplace of several notables: Wallace Hume Carothers discovered nylon and neoprene, anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett drafted the Antiquities Act, Sam Graves is a US Congressman and his brother Todd Graves is a former US attorney.

Burlington Junction (mile 25) There is more than meets the eye in this tiny town of 532. Be prepared for an awesome city park that includes a horse arena. The park is the main rest area for Big BAM riders in Burlington Junction.

COURTESY OF MISSOURI DIVISION OF TOURISM

to Maryville • MONDAY, JUNE 22

Turn the page for Maryville.

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DAY 1 Rock Port is known nationally for being the first community capable of being powered solely by wind in the country.

Ha Ha Tonka

Things to Do HISTORY STOP Atchison County Memorial Building • The Atchison County Memorial Building is home to the Liberty Theatre and the Walk of Honor.

ENTERTAINMENT Backroad Bar and Grill • Serving up live entertainment, pool tables, darts, grub, and good times, this is a rocking small-town spot in Burlington Junction.

SIDE TRIPS Brickyard Hills Conservation Area • Just north of Rock Port and within biking distance, the Brickyard Hills Conservation Area offers camping, trails, and is home to Charity Lake.

POWER UP Kiss My Grits Café • Located in Burlington Junction, this little diner is known for its big portions and home cooking.

Brody Buster Band IN MARYVILLE DONALDSON PARK (MILE 40)

Day 1 • Monday, June 22 • 7 PM

COURTESY OF DAVID MCADOO

Brody Buster Band

From being featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to receiving praise from B.B. King, Brody Buster achieved notoriety as a blues harmonica player before he was even old enough to start high school.

Often considered a child prodigy, the self-taught musician has performed at clubs on Beale Street, B.B. King’s in Los Angeles, the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival, and the Montreux Blues and Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

In 2009, Brody Buster swapped the harmonica for a guitar and formed the Brody Buster Band, based out of Lawrence, Kansas. Even though Brody still plays the harmonica and retains his blues influence, the band’s heavy rock sound is much different than the traditional blues that made Brody famous as a child.

DON’T MISS Tarkio Prairie • The Tarkio Prairie, about four miles north of Highway 136, protects the western prairie fringed orchid. Look for heavily scented white flowers with fringed lower petals and nectar filled spurs. Take a photo if you spot one of these rare wildflowers.

Western Prairie Fringed Orchid

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Not too big and not too small, Maryville is a focal point of the northwest.

Albany

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WHETHER A LIFELONG NATIVE of Nodaway County, a newcomer to the county seat community, or a prospective resident or business operator, you get a comfortable feeling from the instant you arrive in Maryville.

More specifically, there is a welcoming atmosphere which demonstrates that Maryville’s residents are interested in their long-time neighbors and visitors.

Affectionately nicknamed “The ’Ville,” the City of Maryville is located in the picturesque northwest corner of Missouri and is home to 11,972 full-time residents.

The fertile valleys make for a historically rich agricultural economy. A vibrant and growing industrial community secures this city as a focal point of northwest

Mozingo Lake Recreation Park

Missouri, southwestern Iowa, and northeastern Nebraska.

In addition to Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville is home to outstanding elementary, secondary, and technical schools; and has a full schedule of annual art, music, and other cultural events.

The city’s outdoor art program is of particular interest to visitors. New artwork is placed in outdoor locations throughout the city and swapped out for new pieces each year. A new installation of bronze sculp-

tures is going up in May and will be ready for visitors to experience.

NMSU has been recognized nationally for its innovative “electronic campus,” strong educational reputation, and competitive intercollegiate athletic programs.

You can add a diverse array of city parks and recreational facilities, including the three-thousand-acre Mozingo Lake Recreation Park, to the list of qualities Maryville has to offer.

Over the years, Mozingo Lake Recreation Park has grown into an outdoor epicenter.

Many fishing enthusiasts consider Mozingo to be one of the best fishing lakes in the state, and Mozingo Lake was recognized in 2014 as one of the top 100 bass fishing lakes in the United States by Bassmaster. Mozingo is home to luxury cabins, RV camping, tent camping, and equestrian and hiking trails.

The lake is also known for high quality golf courses and has been named by USA Today as one of the best public golf courses in the country.

A nine-hole golf course designed by golf legend Tom Watson opens this summer, just in time for Big BAM cyclists to enjoy the links.

Music will be playing in Donaldson Westside Park. Come out and enjoy the show.

Hopkins (mile 54) Located in Nodaway County two miles from the Missouri-Iowa border, Hopkins is now home to about 570 people. Surveyor William Brady designed the town, which was named after railroad official A.L. Hopkins, in 1871.

Every year, the community hosts the Hopkins Picnic during the second week in July. The picnic, which happens to be the

oldest fair in Nodaway County, is free and has live music performances.

For something to eat, stop at the Highway 148 Cafe or Rick’s Country Shoppe.

Riders should be aware of busy traffic on Highway 148 on their way to the meet up and live music in Hopkins.

Grant City (mile 79) Named after Civil War General Ulysses Simpson Grant, the northern Missouri town was established in 1863.

Grant City is known for its Grand Army of the Republic monument, the courthouse building’s hand-painted mural, and the Glenn Miller monument at the courthouse.

COURTESY OF THE CITY OF MARYVILLE

to Albany • TUESDAY, JUNE 23

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DAY 2

Things to Do HISTORY STOP Nodaway County Historical Society Museum • Open from 1-4 PM in Maryville, the museum is located in the Caleb Burns house built in 1849 and features the 1883 Hickory Grove one-room schoolhouse.

CAMPING Mozingo Lake Recreation Park • Camping behind the amphitheater in town is available for Big BAM bicyclists or they can choose to take a five-mile side trip to camp at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.

SIDE TRIPS Sheridan Old Defiance Days • This threeday celebration is happening the weekend of Big BAM. Head back on Saturday or Sunday to enjoy the festivities.

COURTESY OF THE TOWN OF GRANT CITY AND NOTLEY HAWKINS

Colden Pond is located on the south portion of Northwest Missouri State University campus. It was originally named Lamkin Lake after NMSU President Uel Lamkin

The town offers a plethora of recreational activities, from skating and golfing at the local sports complex to swimming at its seasonal pool. The Worth County Community Lake is twelve miles from Grant City.

Grant City is decorating its town with an Americana Agriculture theme to welcome Big BAM riders, and Young Farmers will be serving food along with other local venders.

Allendale (mile 86) Since Allendale was established over 150 years ago, the Worth County village’s population has consistently been less than

sixty. Allendale prides itself on its annual Fourth of July Breakfast, which started in 1964 and provides breakfast and on-stage entertainment for Allendale residents and surrounding community members.

The community also hosts the Allendale Rodeo, the main fundraiser for its Community Betterment Group, in August.

Stop at the Oldtowne Cafe for breakfast and lunch during the week or for a taste of their famous tenderloins dubbed “Missouri’s Best.” Allendale has a tea room, quilt shop, and pool hall.

The town square park is a great place to rest weary muscles and enjoy the refreshments and food provided by the town.

POWER UP Oldtowne Café in Allendale • Renowned for their famous tenderloins, this café makes a perfect stop for lunch or breakfast. Arrive early because it closes at 2 PM. Grant City Pool

SWIMMING HOLES Grant City Community Pool • The Grant City Community Pool is open after Memorial Day. As the halfway point in the Day 2 Big BAM route, this might be a good time to cool off in the pool.

Turn the page for Albany.

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Bethany

Famous for its outlaw heritage, Albany offers first-class outdoor recreation.

NESTLED IN THE NORTHWEST CORNER of the state, Albany has much to offer the outdoor enthusiast. The gently rolling croplands, pastures, and woods create ideal conditions for some of the state’s finest deer and turkey hunting.

Within an hour drive of Albany are ten conservation areas, totaling nearly thirteen thousand acres. Managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation, these lands are open to the public for fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, and primitive camping.

Area visitors can hike through native prairie, fish in one of many ponds, search for mushrooms, hear the early morning call of bobwhite quail, and flush a rooster pheasant.

Visitors interested in bird-watching can travel forty-five minutes to the Grand River Grasslands for a chance to view unique and rare grassland birds such as the greater prairie chicken and upland sandpiper on lands managed by both the MDC and The Nature

Downtown Albany

Conservancy (TNC). If birds aren’t your thing, then TNC’s Dunn Ranch is home to a reintroduced bison herd that can often be seen from the roads bordering this 3,800-acre prairie restoration site.

Albany was laid out as the Gentry County

seat in 1845. At the suggestion of Senator Thomas Hart Benton, the legislature named the county in honor of Colonel Richard Gentry, who was killed in action leading a regiment of Missouri Volunteers under the command of Zachary Tayor during the 1837 Seminole Indian War in Florida.

Sterling Price recruited heavily in Gentry County in 1864 prior to the “Battle of Westport.” This activity led to much “bushwhacking” that resulted in the deadly “Paw Paw Rebellion.” The 1990s movie about the Missouri Bushwhackers, Ride with the Devil featuring Tobey Maguire, was filmed just south of the town.

The famous James Gang has roots in Albany. South of town, at the Mount Zion Cemetery lies the grave of John Langford, on the north side of the church on the grounds.

Langford was the man who killed William Quantrill, the person allegedly responsible for training Frank and Jesse James in guerilla war tactics. The grave of Isaac Miller is located on the south side of the church.

Miller was the uncle of outlaws Clell and Ed Miller, who rode with the James Gang in the late 1800s. As a matter of fact, Frank James, who had been acquitted, was the emcee for the 1912 Albany fall festival.

On the outskirts of Albany and located on 374 acres of bottom river soils is HundleyWhaley Research Center. Its research addresses improved management practices for crops, timber, and bottomland soils.

Aside from Albany’s lively history, research center, and outdoor offerings, it is also home to the Northwest Medical Center.

In operation since 1957, Northwest Medical Center continues its tradition of community healthcare using leading-edge diagnostic equipment and boasting one of the top emergency room facilities in the area.

Bethany (mile 123) Bethany, the county seat of Harrison County, was established in 1845 and originally named Dallas. One of the oldest homes in the city, the Edna Cuddy Memorial House and Gardens, was built in 1882 and is open to Big BAM riders the morning of Day 3.

Babe Adams, a pitcher for Pittsburg Panthers from 1906 to 1926, lived in Bethany for a time. A mural dedicated to him was completed in 2009.

Princeton (mile 150) Princeton is ready for Big BAM. The YMCA is opening up its showers. Local venders will have food stands open at the party

COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ALBANY AND DAN BUSH

to Unionville • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24

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DAY 3

Things to Do COOL BREAK Girratono Meat Company • Believe it or not, the Girratono Meat Company in Albany serves ice cream. Probably better described as a deli, this is a great place for a sandwich or a cold treat.

Prairie Chicken

COURTESY OF NOTLEY HAWKINS

The Gentry County Courthouse is in Albany.

Built in 1885 on the public square, the High Victorian or Ruskinian Gothic building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

location. Princeton has a town square with a bandstand that is perfect for a great party.

The county seat of Mercer and the largest city in the county, Princeton gets its name from the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolutionary War. The town is also given a brief mention in the novel American Gods by British author Neil Gaiman.

Lake Paho State Wildlife Area is about six miles west of Princeton and offers a variety of outdoor activities including fishing, hiking, hunting, and camping.

There are plenty of food, drink, and shopping options for Big BAM participants in the town.

Ravanna (mile 158) Ravanna was established in 1857.

The town well is a local landmark.

Residents say the well was hand-dug by early settlers. They do know that the well structure has been around since at least the 1930s. The town of about seventyfive people has fought the Department of Transportation to keep the well in the center of the village, which happens to be in the center of the highway.

Refreshments and local groups will have food stands for Big BAM riders as the band performs from the back of a flat-bed trailer. This small town knows how to throw a party.

SIDE TRIP Bird-Watching • The Grand River Grasslands are forty-five minutes outside of Albany. The endangered greater prairie chicken can be seen here. Look for bar-patterned birds with brown, tan, and rust colors throughout that are similar in size to a small chicken. The prairie chicken has a short tail with a rounded tip and tufts of long feathers on the sides of its neck.

POWER UP Toot Toot Family Restaurant • The American Diner is alive and well in this amusingly named dining establishment in Bethany.

Online reviewers rave about the food, “By far the best place to eat ANYWHERE in northern Missouri.”

DON’T MISS Ravanna Town Well • Mrs. Roberta Searcy of Ravanna says Big BAM cyclists absolutely must stop at the well. “Ravanna is in an open prairie, so the old pioneers dug a well since there wasn’t any water nearby.” The well is considered a must stop for visitors passing through Ravanna.

Turn the page for Unionville.

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Unionville is home to Putnam County Fair and the official state hunting capital.

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to Kirksville • THURSDAY, JUNE 25

Thunderhead Lake

night. The 4-H club and Putnam County Fair Board are offering dinner options for the evening events; it’s going to be a funfilled night. Then the Lions Club is hosting a breakfast for riders in the morning.

How about a swim? You will find a public aquatic center along with a walking trail, swing sets, and slides for the kids. The pool is brand new and features showers, a wading pool, and other facilities that will be

available to Big BAM riders.

Maybe you are looking for something a bit more adventurous? Unionville has been noted by a resolution from the Missouri legislature as the hunting capital of Missouri.

So, consult with locals while you enjoy the festivities and plan a hunting trip.

If you are into fishing, take a trip to Lake Thunderhead. The City also has a fishing lake called Lake Mahoney, which is managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Perhaps you are more of the social type; the state renowned Putnam County Fair, held every September, would be perfect for you. The fair celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2014. Or, visit the Putnam County Historical Museum.

None of the above fit your needs? Downtown has shopping, and with several unique shops in town, you can find a special gift.

Or pick up an antique that is calling your name.

Martinstown (mile 202) Primarily an agricultural community, Martinstown currently has a population of thirteen. When Neil Martin originally established the town in 1857, he built Martinstown’s first store and served as the first postmaster.

The Martinstown Church of Christ was established in the early 1900s and rebuilt in the early 1940s.

In 1936, a schoolhouse for elementary, as well as second- and third-year high school students, was built.

A one-man band will be entertaining Big BAM participants at this stop. Town residents are serving corn dogs, homemade pie, lemonade, sweet tea, and other baked goods to raise money to convert the old school into a community building.

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Novinger (mile 217) This northeastern Missouri town in Adair County was established in the late 1870s

by John C. Novinger during the Pacific Railroad’s westward expansion. Novinger thrived as a coal mining town, and the community had more than fifty coal mines between 1880 and 1966.

For something to eat, stop at Reddy’s Café, Chevy’s Bar and Grill, or maybe the Sunshine Country Store. Food will be available for Big BAM riders at the community center and other places throughout town.

Cyclists on this day should stay alert on Highway 6 for traffic, but the local sheriff will be there to help keep riders safe.

COURTESY OF WILDFLOWER COMMUNITY ASSN.; JORDAN MCALISTER

YOU’VE LOST THE MAP. It has been an hour since the last big town. The grass is looking slightly brighter than usual. There are cows to your left grazing in a pasture.

You pass a small white country home with a barn to the side. There are kids playing in the yard. You look up ahead to find a sign in the midst of the tall cornstalks.

It sits there, glistening in the mid-summer morning dew, as if waiting for you personally, begging you to read the message, “Welcome to Unionville, Missouri.”

Looking past the old historical buildings, you will see green pastures splashed with golden hilltops. Unionville is a small rural town where everybody knows everybody.

But, there is plenty to do in this oasis. Go have a picnic and stay in the campgrounds at the Unionville City Park. The city park is where Big BAM riders will be enjoying the entertainment and be able to camp for the

Turn the page for Kirksville.

3/9/15 10:26 AM

DAY 4 Historic downtown Unionville is home to many unique antique and specialty shops.

Things to Do HISTORY STOP Novinger Museums • The Novinger Coal Miners Museum houses coal mining exhibits and artifacts. The Novinger Log Homestead is a preserved 1850s log house built

by Isaac and Samuel Novinger. Both are open for tours Thursday from 1-4 PM. COOL BREAK Dairy Lane • The shake, malt, and ice cream place to be in Unionville is Dairy Lane. You won’t find them on the Internet: you have to find out if Dairy Lane’s desserts are worthy the old-fashioned way and visit in person.

SWIMMING HOLES Unionville Aquatics Center • This swimming hole in the community park is brand spanking new and has showers and facilities open to the public.

POWER UP Sunshine Country Store • For a quick bite to eat or to stock up on protein bars and beef jerky, stop at the Sunshine Country Store in Novinger. The shop/diner has been around since the ’40s.

The BiG idea IN NOVINGER CITY PARK (MILE 217)

Day 4 • Thursday, June 25 • 11:30 AM-2 PM

ISTOCK

What started out as a duo in the summer of 2009 expanded to four musicians from Southeast Missouri and eventually formed The Big Idea. An acoustic guitar, six-string banjo, electric bass, and percussion gives you acoustic folk rock music.

The band’s name comes from the idea that music can make people move on the dance floor, and at the end of the night, rethink what they want from live music.

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Rich in history and culture, Kirksville is the North Star of Missouri.

FIRST ON THE LIST IN KIRKSVILLE is its love of knowledge and history. Truman State University assures this college town is abundant with opportunities to stimulate the mind and broaden horizons.

A good place to begin is with the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine at A.T. Stills University, where you can learn about the history of medicine. Discover Kirksville’s past at the Ruth Towne Museum and the Novinger Coal Miner’s Museum.

Visitors can even study the stars at the Robison Planetarium on the Truman State University campus.

Enjoy art exhibits at the Truman State University Art Gallery and the Kirksville Arts Center.

And if music is your thing, both the university and the arts association host concerts and other performances. The Round Barn is always hosting live performances.

All summer long there are free Summer on the Square concerts on Friday evening.

Forest Lake Marina

In addition, the Kirksville area has a number of annual festivals including the Red Barn Arts and Crafts Festival, the Kirksville Air Festival, Round Barn Blues Festival, Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America festival, and the Novinger Coal Miners Days.

Living in a college town has its benefits.

There’s always a good place to order pizza, like Pagliai’s Pizza, a Kirksville staple since 1963, and a variety of restaurants from sushi to barbeque. Taste “star quality” food and drink at Jacob’s Winery or West Winery/Jackson Stables. Sample beer with the Kirksville Guild of Brewers. Try the second-best hamburger (because no one will ever agree on who has the first) at the DunKum Inn or spanakopita at the Greek Corner. Have sushi at Bonzi or barbeque at the Wooden Nickel. And don’t miss Bellacino’s grinders.

But the city can draw you in with its rural charm just the same. From May to October, the Farmer’s Market on the downtown square is a great place to soak in the local flavors as well as pick up fresh produce and baked goods. Lost Branch Lodge, Brashear House Bed and Breakfast, antique stores, unique shops, and boutiques make Kirksville a great place for a weekend getaway.

At Thousand Hills State Park, just a few miles west, you will find water sports, hiking and camping, as well as ancient Native American petroglyphs. The petroglyph site is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The 573-acre Forest Lake is the main attraction at Thousand Hills State Park and provides a place to boat, swim, and fish.

The surrounding landscape is perfect for mountain biking, hiking, and camping.

Kirksville served as the stage for a large Civil War battle. The mass grave of executed Confederate soldiers is marked in the Forest Llewellyn Cemetery a few blocks west of Kirksville.

An annual Civil War commemoration is hosted in the city August 5th-6th with historic dancers, musical performances, and historic dramas.

Baring (mile 248) Named for the Baring brothers of Baring Brothers & Co., who were investors in the railroad, Baring was platted in 1888 with the extension of the Santa Fe railway.

St. Aloysius Catholic Church has been standing for at least 120 years, and the Baring Community Church has served the community for about a century.

Baring Hall, the air-conditioned downtown community center, is a great place for Big BAM riders to cool off at this rest stop.

The local café will provide snacks and water. Baring is a nice cool break for riders to escape the summer heat about half a mile off route.

COURTESY OF THE CITY OF KIRKSVILLE

to Canton • FRIDAY, JUNE 26

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DAY 5

Things to Do SIDE TRIPS Thousand Hills State Park • Thousand Hills State Park is the site of ancient Native American rock carvings, or petroglyphs. Archeologists believe the carvings of crosses, animals, snakes, thunderbirds, and other Native American symbols are ceremonial sites where ancient rituals were conducted as far back as 1,500 years ago.

POWER UP IDK Café • If you love American diner food, then you should stop in Baring at the IDK Café. Known locally for awesome cupcakes, IDK is sure to satisfy, but get there early. The cafe is only open from 6:30 AM to 2 PM. SWIMMING HOLES Kirksville Aquatics Center • The Kirksville Aquatics Center is opening its facilities (indoor and outdoor) to Big BAM riders.

A shower sounds simply heavenly after an eighty-mile day.

COURTESY OF DANCING RABBIT ECOVILLAGE AND NOTLEY HAWKINS

Search the Adair County Courthouse grounds for markers detailing the county history.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage (mile 254) Dancing Rabbit is a community dedicated to sustainable living; the 230 acres of land the community lives on was bought in 1997. Residents of the village build their houses using straw bale and cob. The entire village runs on solar and wind energy. Visitors can stay at the local inn, The Milkweed Mercantile. Residents of Dancing Rabbit plan to hold tours of their sustainable habitat throughout the day for Big BAM riders.

Rutledge (mile 258) Local legend claims the outlaw Tom Horn was born on a farm in Rutledge. The

open-air flea market, held every second weekend from March through October, or the nearby Scotland County Antique Fair draw visitors from all over.

Rutledge is working hard to make this the best little stop on the Big BAM. Local massage therapists will be available along with tours of the historic school given by the Rutledge School Restoration Society.

Homemade pie, barbecue, and breakfast are all on the menu. Sounds like a required stop, if not for the pie, then the massage. Parties will be held at the town pavilion, fire station, and City Park, and most of the town will be blocked off to traffic, making for one awesome festival.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

DON’T MISS Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage Tours • Three cars, a truck, and a tractor are shared by the seventy residents of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, and they are happy to share how they build their homes and run completely on sustainable energy. Dancing Rabbit residents are giving tours to Big BAM riders and invite visitors to attend their annual Village Fair and open house in September.

Turn the page for Canton.

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Canton

The final stop on your way to the Mighty Mississippi River.

WELCOME TO CANTON, a place with easygoing attitudes and scenic views of the Mississippi River. This small river town is beaming with history, residential charm, eclectic tastes, and all the wildlife and nature the Mighty Mississippi provides.

Canton features what might be the only RV campground located directly on the

River observation deck

banks of the river. You’re sure to see a barge pass through Lock and Dam 20 and a majestic bald eagle flying overhead.

“We don’t know of anywhere else that has something like that,” Quincy University Biology Professor and Canton tourism committee member Joe Coelho says.

Immediately adjacent to the campground is the boat ramp maintained by the Missouri Department of Conservation and a vintage

rock sea wall built by the CCC during the Great Depression.

The levee walk, a concrete path running a half mile along the levee next to the river, connects to the boat ramp. The centerpiece of this walk is the all-steel observation deck, with an unusual gull-wing shade. The deck’s elevated position provides sweeping views of the river.

Not far downstream is Canton’s wetland trail, a gravel walkway around the shallow wetlands on the landward side of the levee.

In the spring, the site teems with waterfowl, including the blue-winged teal, northern shoveler, and hooded merganser.

Prefer walking the links instead of the trails? A private golf course just south of Canton offers day passes, and other courses are within forty miles of the city.

About ten miles away lies Wakonda State Park, over a thousand acres of scenic lakes, forests, and unusual sand prairies. Fishing, camping, canoeing, and kayaking are available, as well as Missouri’s largest natural sand beach for swimming.

Canton offers much more than the beauty and serenity of nature: It has a quaint but lively downtown.

A stroll through Canton showcases the Lincoln School, the restored Lewis Street

Big BAM Block Party

Your final destination awaits in Canton.

Baptize your bike by dipping it in the Big Muddy Mississippi River

Playhouse Theatre, Victorian-style homes, or any one in a list of historic buildings, some dating back to the very early 1800s.

The Lewis Street Playhouse Theatre houses comedy acts, plays, and special events throughout the year in addition to showing movies. The Playhouse was built in 1893 at 405 Lewis Street. The facility hosted traveling stage performances in the 1800s and early 1900s, and later functioned as a movie theater. After standing vacant since the early 1980s, the Canton Area Arts Council revitalized the facility and used some of the original period Art Deco pieces found in the building to restore the theater, completing work in 2008.

If it’s nightlife, music, and great food you are looking for, Canton doesn’t disappoint.

Local and regional musicians liven up the night as the campus lights of Culver-Stockton College shine down from The Hill.

With several quaint shops and unique gift and antique stores, you will do more than window shop. Canton’s small-town businesses provide a unique shopping experience absent from big-name stores. “Store owners call you by name, and you become part of a family,” says Crystal Bell, Canton Tourism Commission member and owner of Creative Country.

Big BAM ends in Canton. Time to celebrate. • After reaching the Mississippi River, riders can baptize their bikes in the river to mark their successful 304-mile journey across the state.

The city is gearing up for the event. An entire city block is going to be the site for the Big BAM Block Party.

There will be a beer garden, camping, a dance floor, and awesome live music to end the week-long festival. The downtown theater is showing bicycle documentaries for evening entertainment in addition to the live music.

Local restaurant Saint’s Café located by the Centerstone Inn is staying open 24 hours on Friday to serve hungry travelers some great grub. Showers will also be available to wash off the sweat and grime from a hard day’s ride. With the great nightlife and block party Canton offers, there is no better place to end the first Big BAM (Bicycle Across Missouri) music festival.

COURTESY OF JOE COELHO AND NOTLEY HAWKINS

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MISSOURI

There are many benefits for serving in the National Guard. First and foremost is service to our state and country. There is no feeling like the satisfaction of providing comfort, safety, security, and hope to your community and country in a time of need. The Guard provides paid training in over two hundred different specialties, many of which can be taken to the civilian marketplace. To further

1-800-GO-GUARD The Army National Guard is the first and oldest branch of our Armed Forces. When the nation calls, the National Guard is America’s most powerful invisible weapon.

For 378 years, men and women of the National Guard have come together in response to natural disasters and the defense of our nation. At home, the National Guard helps local communities withstand natural disasters such as storms, floods, fires, and earthquakes.

The Guard has been a part of every major combat mission from its beginning in 1636 until present day. The Guard accounts for more than half of the Army’s combat power, as well as more than a third of the combat service support structure. enhance your education and skills, the National Guard offers many educational benefits in the form of state and federal tuition assistance, the Montgomery GI Bill, and student loan repayment to supplement career training. There are benefits for participating in college ROTC while in the Guard, through the Simultaneous Membership Plan.

You will also receive additional income for your initial specialty training, weekend, and annual drills.

Each state and territory has its own National Guard made up of men and women from all walks of life and many diverse occupations, who serve their country on a part-time basis by training at least one weekend a month and conducting annual training. At the call from the governor of the state or the president of our nation, these men and women are trained, equipped, and ready to respond anywhere in the state, nation, or around the world on short notice.

The Army National Guard trains you to be more than just a soldier—it trains you to be a leader. In this fast-paced, high tech world, intangible qualities such as leadership, experience, and discipline are not only required but also necessary to succeed. The skills you learn in the National Guard are the same ones that can help you succeed in civilian life. As a member of the National Guard, you are trained to exercise leadership and undergo rigorous training and instruction to guarantee that you are prepared to meet the requirements of any mission. Developing leadership skills is expected of all members, no matter what rank.

To find out more about the Army National Guard and how you can be a part of the team, call 573-659-1617 and talk with a local recruiter.

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Pride OF PLACE

At about three miles in length, the riverfront trail in St. Joseph leads from the Remington Nature Center to Riverfront Park, which is the setting for the city’s annual fireworks display.

IN SEARCH OF THE

Great NORTHWEST Take the stranger’s path, and explore St. Joseph’s cultural history through the Remington Nature Center.

FROM CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS to voyageurs to Lewis and Clark, the mythical Northwest Passage shaped the course of American history. The lay of the land also shaped the northwest Missouri cultural region that launched the Pony Express and, for a time, even America’s westward expansion.

Like the Northwest Passage, northwest Missouri lacks a single definition. The Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments, located in Maryville, serves forty towns in Atchison, Holt, Gentry, Nodaway, and Worth Counties, while the Missouri Division of Tourism includes the Kansas City metropolitan area in its definition of the northwest area.

The Missouri Department of Conservation notes that the region dwells in the Central Dissected Till Plains that extend into parts of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Illinois.

Mental maps also shape our understanding of a place. In the February issue of Missouri Life, regional native and publisher Greg Wood wrote fondly about the scenic beauty of “one of Missouri’s greatest treasures,” an image also reflected in my own travels through the region; my tenyear-old self still remembers the romance of the Pony Express and the region’s many layers of history. My image of this region began to emerge in the early 1980s based on conversations with my cousin Gary, who

COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH CVB

BY W. ARTHUR MEHRHOFF

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The Remington Nature Center offers monthly scavenger hunts that take you all around the center and lead you outside to the riverfront walk to complete the list.

its displays and the programming on the Missouri River and northwest worked in regional economic development addressing its loss of farms Missouri, the center brings what stewardship means down to size, like and industries, and it evolved further about seven years ago during my the center’s beloved baby mammoth mascot Remi. The dynamic Reminvolvement with the governor’s DREAM (Downtown Revitalization ington Nature Center, at the very matrix of the region, offers an exceland Economic Assistance for Missouri) Initiative. So how can a pilgrim lent vantage from which to explore the characteristics, challenges, and to Missouri locate the heart of this mythic hinterland? creative potential of northwest Missouri.

Cultural geographer J. B. Jackson once wrote about the “stranger’s The 13,000-square-foot Remington Nature path” that a newcomer to town experiences.

Center—designed by Columbia’s Peckham In the 1950s, bus or train stations defined it; and Wright Architects, who also designed in the 1850s, it began at Wharf Street. Highthe Conservation Nature Center in Cape way interchanges and McDonald’s now mark Girardeau, the baseball stadium at MU, and the stranger’s path, but they tell us little about other buildings across the state—reflects both a town and region. My own northwest passage its mission and northwest Missouri’s unique led me back from Highway 36 interchanges character. The concrete and wooden structure to the historic train depot, past the Pony Exrises like a crimson peak in the hilly, wooded press Museum and early buildings of founder topography of this region of glaciated plains.

Joseph Robidoux, to the Remington Nature Its many angles create interesting interior and Center located on the ancient Native Ameri—Frederick Jackson Turner exterior spaces for the center’s displays, such can trail that traces the St. Joseph riverfront. as their native fish; programs, such as mock archaeological digs; or simply The mission of the Remington Nature Center, which opened in 2008 reflection. Its many windows welcome sunlight and constantly changing as part of St. Joseph’s Parks and Recreation system, is to educate visitors, views of the wooded Missouri River watershed. Its landscape architecespecially children, about how humans have impacted the natural world ture—including a wetland, bridges, waterwheel, and river walk—furthers and to inspire better stewardship of the earth. That’s a tall order—as tall the building’s conversation with the special character of its site and region. as Sembu, the native woolly mammoth in the lobby—but by focusing

COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH CVB

“Civilization in America has followed arteries made by geology ...

It is like the growth of a complex nervous system.”

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Around the time St. Joseph was founded in the 1840s, American artist George Catlin advocated for creating a vast nature preserve in the heart of the country to preserve its unique ecology, including the buffalo and native peoples. From the top, Catlin’s paintings The Bear Dance, Comanche Feats of Horsemanship, and Buffalo Chase with Bows and Lance documented and authentically represented the lifestyles and cultures of Native American tribes that called the Great Plains, which includes northwest Missouri, home.

Scholars of religion would call that special character an axis mundi, the center of the world. This axis mundi of sorts includes the famed Ghost Trail—which native peoples from all over the region followed to La-No-Wah, the sacred hills just north at the river’s bend, where they would lay down their arms and receive visions. Mary Alicia Owen, a contemporary of American artist George Catlin who shared his fascination for native peoples, wrote in her marvelous ethnography The Road to Paradise: “The pioneers had it from the Indians that their hills once so richly wooded and the prairies, deep with lush grasses billowing under the winds as the seas with its waves, or the blazing with unnamed and uncountable flowers, were set apart as a land of peace, to which the warring tribes … could come to rest, to hunt, to make or break alliances or treaties, to recuperate their sick, to bury their dead, and once a year, to hear the prophecies which, as the ice broke up the Missouri River, were sighed from the water by the king of fishes—the great channel catfish— and interpreted to the people by shamans and medicine men.”

Mary Alicia Owens concluded, “This was sacred soil.”

This special place has, not surprisingly, long attracted different peoples, so the Remington Nature Center also interprets northwest Missouri’s diverse cultural history. As Center Director Bill McKinney observed in understated fashion, “There is so much history here.”

The center naturally emphasizes the significance of Native Americans in the development of northwest Missouri, especially in relation to the story of the Sacred Hills. A variety of displays—many of them donated,

COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH CVB; PUBLIC DOMAIN

This replica woolly mammoth shows patrons of the Remington Nature Center what it would be like to stand next to one of these giant creatures, which stood anywhere from nine to eleven feet tall and weighed nearly six tons, eating 130 to 660 pounds of food each day.

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EXPLORE ST. JOSEPH ALBRECHT-KEMPER MUSEUM OF ART This gallery is home to one of the greatest collections of art in the Midwest. With more than three thousand pieces of art dating back to the eighteenth century, the museum features world-renowned artists, such as Edward Hopper and George Catlin. albrecht-kemper.org • 2818 Frederick Avenue • 816-233-7003

LEWIS AND CLARK NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL

Above: The Robidoux Row Museum looks at life in the eighteenth century inside what some historians consider the first apartment house west of the Mississippi River. Below: The Pony Express Monument in St. Joseph was unveiled on April 20, 1940, to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the legendary mail carrier’s beginning.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark traced the Missouri River through what would become St. Joseph while exploring the Louisiana Purchase.

Discover where they stopped in the area along this national trail. nps.gov/lecl • Throughout town • 402-661-1804

PATEE HOUSE MUSEUM St. Joseph’s only National Historic Landmark, this luxury hotel served as the headquarters for the Pony Express from 1860 to 1861 and is located right next to where Bob Ford infamously killed Jesse James. ponyexpressjessejames.com/patee • 1202 Penn Street • 816-232-8206

PONY EXPRESS NATIONAL MUSEUM Witness where the Pony Express started by exploring this museum at the site of the original Pony Express stables. Then, make a trek to see the Pony Express monument on the corner of Ninth Street and Frederick Avenue. ponyexpress.org •914 Penn Street • 816-279-5059

REMINGTON NATURE CENTER

COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH CVB AND MISSOURI DIVISION OF TOURISM

This center gives a unique perspective on northwest Missouri. stjoemo.info • 1502 MacArthur Drive • 816-271-5499

ROBIDOUX ROW MUSEUM Learn more about the city’s founder, Joseph Robidoux, by exploring his personal quarters and belongings. The building alone, built in the 1840s, is a testament to historic preservation. robidouxrowmuseum.org • 217 E. Poulin Street • 816-232-5861

ST. JOSEPH MUSEUM This museum showcases the town’s cultural heritage, from Native American archaeological items to a nineteenth-century doll collection.

The museum also features the Black Archives Museum, which features exhibits on St. Joseph’s most prominent black residents. stjosephmuseum.org • 3406 Frederick Avenue • 800-530-8866

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like the exhibit on barbed wire, or voluntarily built for the center, like the interactive display of local animal tracks—also explore the pioneering role northwest Missouri played in westward migration. From exploration to trade to railroads, the center showcases how these developments in the United States’ expansion from coast to coast impacted the natural environment.

St. Joseph’s extensive array of excellent historic sites and museums commemorate and celebrate the region’s cultural history, but my most recent visit was far too short to explore them in depth. Luckily, the center’s unique Journey Through Time exhibit literally encapsulated that heritage. Guided by Remington Nature Center Director Bill McKinney, I entered a time tunnel that was marked by hieroglyphs, and it led me to displays of the earliest human settlements in the area and onward to St. Joseph’s founding by entrepreneur Joseph Robidoux. I journeyed further into the tunnel; passed the legendary Pony Express; saw the farms, industries, and towns that were generated by the railroad; and witnessed the creation of the historic St. Joseph parkway system, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, at the turn of the twentieth century. The exhibition led me back to my original questions about the loss of the railroad’s motive power and the subsequent effects of the automobile on the region.

Finally, the Remington Nature Center suggests a new motivating force for how the region could again play a pioneering role in Missouri. This center is a cooperative regional effort that realized Bill McKinney’s longstanding vision for environmental education in northwest Missouri; it

included major financial support from local philanthropist Joseph Remington and strong support from Senator Kit Bond, the Missouri Department of Conservation, and many local donors and volunteers. The center’s 1.2 mile river walk is already the most heavily traveled segment of the city’s celebrated parkway system, and the center also plays a central role in local and regional tourism and economic development activities. Furthermore, its idyllic location, setting, and meeting facilities offer extraordinary resources for imagining a regional future shaped by the stewardship of its natural and cultural heritage.

Geographer Anne Buttimer writes that “metaphor performs a poetic as well as a conservative function … preserving as well as creating knowledge about actual and potential connections.” Around the time St. Joseph was founded in the 1840s, American artist George Catlin advocated for creating a vast nature preserve in the heart of the country to preserve its unique ecology, including the buffalo and native peoples. While westward expansion trampled Catlin’s recommendation in its wake, his idea later found new life in America’s legendary national park system. We modern Americans cannot return to the sacred Ghost Trail, but the cultural tradition so venerated by Mary Alicia Owen reminds us to occasionally abandon our rivalries, to respect our ancestors and future generations, and to defend our special places.

Although we can no longer authentically trace the paths forged by the people who first inhabited northwest Missouri, perhaps the riverfront rendezvous—that unique gathering of cultures, commerce, and celebration so familiar to town founder Joseph Robidoux—offers a re-

COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH CVB

The Remington Nature Center explores St. Joseph’s involvement with the Chisholm Trail, a journey that brought cattle to town to be transported to market by train.

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COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH CVB

newable metaphor that could help connect the northwest region’s rich heritage to its future renewal. Imagine: A monk from Conception Abbey or an Amish farmer might speak about creating sustainable landscapes in northwest Missouri. Someone from the Arbor Day Foundation in Nebraska City across the river might demonstrate the land stewardship of agroforestry, while representatives from nearby Rock Port could show how to maximize wind energy. A ranger from Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge could explain ecotourism, while Lexington civic leaders could describe how to use historic preservation and the arts for community renewal. Hamilton’s entrepreneurs could describe the business multiplier effect of traditional crafts like quilting, while a delegation from Chattanooga, Tennessee, might trek up here to tell of how their own river walk and aquarium catalyzed an environmental model that eventually generated an electric vehicle industry, reclaimed brownfields (property that can’t be developed because of hazardous contamination), and finally attracted the zero-waste Volkswagen automobile plant.

Like an archer drawing a bow, we reach back deeply into the past in order to propel the arc of our vision far ahead into the targeted future. Perhaps if we could once again become like children and imagine our own connection to Sembu and Remi, we might finally realize our own Northwest Passage in the words of pioneering American conservationist Aldo Leopold: “We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us.

When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Now that would be mammoth!

From the town’s outset and into its early history, the river was very much the lifeblood of town.

In fact, St. Joseph’s founder, Joseph Robidoux, was a fur trader who depended on the river for his own livelihood. The Missouri River is now a place of recreation for St. Joseph residents and visitors, with the city’s river walk offering an opportunity to reconnect with nature.

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SHOW-ME

on the

A HOME

EDGE OF FOLLY This rustic Missouri home is a testament to its builder’s eccentricities.

STORY BY JONAS WEIR | PHOTOS BY ANGELIQUE HUNTER

Osage orange trunks frame the driveway to JJ’s Folly outside of Fayette. The sign for the home was made by Langley Metal Works, formerly of Hallsville, in 2012.

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At JJ’s Folly, there is room for a large group to swim, grill, picnic, and go boating. Tucked below the deck and den of the main floor of the house, there are three boat slips.

MORE THAN fifty-five years ago, Julius Johnmeyer started day dreaming. He and his wife, Grace, were raising seven children, while Julius wore many different hats: farmer, contractor, builder. During this balancing act of life, Julius was constantly planning how to construct a rustic lodge straight out of his imagination.

“Like many people do, when you are young and you have a big family, you have dreams of having a house and probably can’t afford to build it,” says Connie Johnmeyer, one of Julius’s daughters. “He had been—in his head and sometimes on paper—designing this house for years.”

Today, his dream home—a wonderfully eccentric, rustic structure that was finished in 1970— stands on a plot of land outside of Fayette. Although Julius died in 2003 and Grace died in 2010, Connie maintains their legacy at what has been dubbed JJ’s Folly. Connie lives at the house full-time and runs a bed-and-breakfast there on the weekends and during the summers. In 2012, when she moved in, all of her parents’ belongings had been split up among her six siblings and Julius and Grace’s twenty-five grandchildren,

auctioned off, or donated; the black bear that Julius shot and had stuffed was donated to Central Methodist University. So, Connie had to furnish the place herself.

Connie, who had just retired as an active-duty psychologist for the Air Force, had no trouble finding things to fill the home. While she was

“He found this tree in Alaska when he was hunting. He had it shipped down here, and it’s built into the house.” in the Air Force, she was stationed in Germany and collected a number of antiques during her time in Europe, including everything from Polish pottery to handcrafted English furniture.

Despite all the new furnishings, the home still seems to be a product of Julius. His vision

is incorporated into the very fiber of house. He built it, drew the blueprints, and incorporated items that intrigued him into the physical structure. An avid hunter, he would find many of these items while he was chasing big game.

“He found this tree in Alaska when he was hunting, and it had this big bulge in the trunk; he was intrigued by it,” Connie says. “He had it shipped down here, and it’s built into the house. There are several things like that, things that he had collected over the years in anticipation of building the house.”

In fact, the backbone of the house is something that Julius had been collecting. Although it’s not a typical building material, Osage orange trees make very strong wood, and it gives JJ’s Folly a Missouri flair. Julius collected logs for years to get the supports he needed.

During his fifty-year career in construction and contract work, Julius worked various jobs and built just about everything. For years, he cleared land for telephone wires and buried cables for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. He also built homes, often with unique design elements.

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SHOW-ME

The living room prominently features a chandelier made from log chains and hay hooks. The spiral staircase is made from Osage orange, as are many of the home’s beams.

And he did other various contract jobs, like building levies and dams. With all that knowledge, Julius decided to construct a lake near his home about ten years after the house was completed.

The lake outside of JJ’s Folly is about twenty acres. Although the Johnmeyer family expected it to take years to fill the giant pit their father had dug in their backyard, they had a heavy rain season, and the lake was full within a year.

Now, it’s part of the topography; it would be hard to imagine the house without the lake.

“You can ski in the lake, but it’s not very ad-

The bedrooms are named after the child who originally inhabited the room. This is J.A.’s room.

venturous,” Connie says. “You’d just keep going around in circles, but people have done it.”

As an instructor at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Connie doesn’t do any skiing these days. But she has decades of memories at the house, which she fondly recalls.

When the Johnmeyer family moved into the new home in December 1970, the spiral staircase had not been built yet, so Connie, who was a freshman at Mizzou, and her siblings had to climb a ladder when they wanted to go to bed.

Since it was built, all but one of her siblings and various grandchildren have lived there at one point or another. Then, there’s the countless number of years where all the Johnmeyer grandchildren would try to create a firework show that rivaled Fayette’s on the Fourth of July. Thankfully, nobody ever got hurt. JJ’s Folly was always a place of refuge and celebration. This is why Connie decided to buy the house.

“We had some vested interest in keeping it in the family,” she says. “It’s a very unique place. All of us, I think, struggled with the idea of selling it. It worked out.”

But maintaining the house is not some nostalgic, selfish pursuit. The 5,200-square-foot lodge can be marveled at by anyone with an appreciation for design. Where else, outside of the Swiss Family Robinson, can you see a

The massive see-through fireplace was built by O. J. Roberts of Rocheport. It is made of Ozark rock and Osage orange posts on one side and brick on the other side.

home on stilts made of intact tree trunks? And where else could this place have come from, if not the mind of a free-spirited Missourian?

“He was this entirely unique human being who was thoroughly convinced that he could do just about anything that he wanted to do,” Connie says, “that he could make it happen.”

Visit jjsfolly.com for more information.

Connie oversaw a significant renovation of the house in 2012.

During this time, the kitchen island was updated.

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2015

OUTDOORS

Whether it’s

HEART-PUMPING THRILL OR QUIET TRANQUILITY, Missouri outdoors checks all the boxes.

There is something for everyone. Many outdoor excursions can offer both EXCITEMENT AND RELAXATION at the same destination.

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2015

OUTDOORS

THE KATY TRAIL:

MAKING CONNECTIONS This state treasure turns 25 this year. Learn the story behind what may quite possibly be the “most unifying force in Missouri today.”

BY DANIEL A. BURKHARDT

tion between regions of the state—between town and country—that nothing else does.

The Katy Trail runs from the territory of the Blue Crew of the Kansas City Royals to solid-red Cardinal Nation, from Sedalia and the State Fair to State U in Columbia, to Capital City and through Missouri Wine Country. The trail almost reaches the confluence of America’s two greatest rivers, just north of St. Louis.

The Rock Island Trail Expansion currently in development, from Windsor to Pleasant Hill, will add forty-seven miles and complete the connection between the two metropolises.

The scale of our most popular 238-milelong, thirty-foot-wide state park makes it hard to capture in words. Much like the elephant described by the blind men of the fable, it is many different things depending on which stretch is “yours.” “Mine” happens to be from Hermann to the confluence, a mere seventy-four miles. But I have seen and read about the many points of interest and scenic stops along the rest of its route.

Everyone who knows the trail feels a piece of it is “theirs.”

Sit on a bench at any of the twenty-eight trailheads on an autumn day and witness

what happens. You’ll see Missouri families cycling from one end of the trail to the other, local residents out for a walk, and couples on cycling vacations. Travelers from far and wide come to Missouri, soaking up our scenery, courtesy of the Katy Trail.

EVERYTHING CHANGES

by Gloria Attoun, Augusta Between bluff and land where the iron rails clanged The tracks are all lifted, there is no more train.

We walk and we ride on the trails that were made The river flows by limestone paths in the shade.

One thing for certain, change is gonna come through Just like we knew that it would, Change is okay …

We just hope that it’s good.

The vision of Ted Jones—when he both financed and fought for the Katy Trail—was to connect all Missourians to the countryside. He wanted to give them an up-close experience and, in the process, increase their appreciation of the rural landscape of our state. He saw opportunity for the small railroad towns that grew with the railroad and then suffered from its decline. Ted wanted change that was good.

COURTESY OF MISSOURI STATE PARKS

I

N THE MID-1980S, the MissouriKansas-Texas Railroad abandoned the rails they had worked so hard to lay a century before. Some saw this as a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity, others saw it as a calamity. The effort to create what would become the Katy Trail took years.

Under the leadership of Edward D. “Ted” Jones (now deceased) and his wife Pat, of Williamsburg, many worked diligently to create what is now America’s longest rails-to-trails experience. Governor John Ashcroft, future Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman, State Parks Historian Jim Denny (who became the trail’s first manager), Bill Bryan (current director of State Parks) and a newly minted state senator, Jay Nixon, were indeed present at the creation. Thanks to their efforts and those of many others, you no longer had to be a riverboat captain to see the limestone bluffs along the river’s edge at sunset. You didn’t need to be a farmer to smell a ripening four-hundredacre corn or bean field in the river bottom or to experience the bottomland forests.

Despite the contention around its opening, the Katy Trail could possibly be the most unifying force in Missouri today. It brings us together and provides a connec-

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Upcoming Events April 10 & 11: Prairie Pine Quilt Guild Quilting With the Stars Audrain County 4-H Center 573-581-2765 | www.mexico-chamber.org April 16-19: “God’s Favorite” Presser Performing Arts Center 573-581-5592 | www.presserpac.com May 2: Bluegrass Music Jam Presser Performing Arts Center 573-581-5592 | www.presserpac.com May 9: Mid Missouri Beer Fest Knights of Columbus — Hwy. 15 573-581-2765 | www.mexico-chamber.org May 16: “Brick City Bad Boys” Car/Cruise Show Harding Park 573-581-2100 | www.mexicomissouri.net

Mexico is a perfect combination of small-town charm and urban style. Artsy boutiques, jewelry, quilt shops, scrapbooking, antiques, and cultural offerings give Mexico a sophisticated air with a family-friendly attitude. Come visit us today!

PHOTO BY DAVIDPICKERING.BIZ

MEXICO AREA CHAMBER

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OF COMMERCE We work hard as a Chamber of Commerce to be the pulse of the community, assisting all to provide services that will nurture and encourage our businesses and strengthen our community.

573-581-2765

PRESSER PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Presser Performing Arts Center is centrally located in the state of Missouri, serving mid America with quality cultural performing arts. We are dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of the arts. We serve a 30 mile radius with 21 zip codes as a multidisciplinary arts education facility. www.presserpac.com / 573-581-5592

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2015

OUTDOORS

WHITEWATER

Missouri Whitewater Association and American Whitewater are in agreement: St. Francis River is quite possibly one of the “wildest scenic river runs in the state.” St. Francis River is the state’s whitewater destination for the experienced. The adventure begins at Tiemann Shut-ins in Millstream Gardens Conservation Area.

A tributary of the St. Francis River, Big Creek, comes in as runner up and is graded classes I to III. (Rapids are graded on a scale of I to V, with a class I rapid best suited for beginners and class V for advanced.) Big Creek shut-ins are located in Sam A. Baker State Park. This adventure is a great primer to the St. Francis, allowing for a relaxing ride if preferred.

Looking for your next extreme paddle in Missouri? Americanwhitewater.org has classes, descriptions, maps, and flows of Missouri rapids.

WATER PARKS Missouri can get hot. Some days nothing sounds better than doing a cannonball into the nearest body of deep water.

Lucky for us, Missouri has nearly infinite opportunities to do so.

Some prefer the natural stillness of a lake or a lazy float down the creek. Others want to take a wild water ride or surf a wave. Missouri’s top-notch water parks can beat any heat wave the Midwest dishes out.

CHRIS AMELUNG AND COURTESY OF SILVER DOLLAR CITY

RAFTING

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2015

OUTDOORS

MOUNTAIN

BIKING Traversing Missouri’s rugged terrain on a mountain bike requires concentration and technique. One of the top-rated mountain biking trails is Landahl Park Reserve in Blue Springs. Online reviews put this trail as ideal for the beginner and the advanced, “A rocky, deep woods, [cross country]-style trail system. It lacks the polish of Swope or Shawnee Mission Park but feels more secluded and raw. Plenty of intermediate trails but if you’re feeling cocky, the black-level offshoots and 10/11 will put you in your place. A must-stop on your way down I-70.”

Benton County is home to Truman Lake Mountain Bike Park, which is one of the best in the state and host to a few tournaments. The trails total approximately twenty miles and feature a sixteen-mile looping trail named “Come & Get Some.”

Horseback riding is a relaxing and invigorating way to explore. Whether traversing one of the sixteen Missouri state parks with equestrian trails or taking advantage of private ranch excursions, the experience is one to remember.

Most equestrian adventures are available in the southern part of Missouri, but St. Louis and Kansas City both offer horseback riding as well. Big River Ranch in Lexington has 2,100 acres to ride, 25 miles of trails, camping areas, and an event center.

Meramec Farm offers riding vacations in the river valley.

COURTESY MISSOURI STATE PARK

HORSEBACK RIDING

JE

C

Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival June 3-6, 2015 Sedalia, MO

Featuring Concerts Tea Dances Free Venues

Plus...

Professional Performers Student Performers Symposiums

C Sedalia’s Katy Trail Head

Coming Soon!

600 E. Third Street • Sedalia, MO Monday - Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

www.katydepotsedalia.com Katy Trail extention from 660-826-2932 the Missouri State Fair Trail Head to the Starline Brass Champion Bicycle Shop Trail’s End Plaza on the Rental • Sales • Service • Accessories Missouri State Fairgrounds. Championbicyclesedalia.com

660-826-7773

For information: 660-826-2271 ragtimer@sbcglobal.net

www.visitsedaliamo.com 800-827-5295

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B V

JUMP EXPERIENCE

ON IN ELLINGTON

Clearwater Lake BLACK RIVER CURRENT RIVER

WWW.ELLINGTONMO.COM Copeland-Shy House Visitor Center Ellington chamber of commerce 155 W. Walnut (Highway 106) 573-663-7997 Monday-Friday; 1-5pm

Brochures & Area Information Available Visit www.elingtonmo.com for more info

2015 Events Spring Fever Days, May 8-9 4th of July Firework Celebration, July 4 Reynolds County Fair, September 3-5 Christmas with Santa & Lighted Parade, TBA

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ROCK CLIMBING Rock climbing is an extreme sport, vertically speaking. Five Missouri state parks allow repelling and rock climbing at certain times during the year. This adventure requires a permit.

The Ozarks are particularly popular. Elephant Rocks State Park, Lake of the Ozarks, St. Francois, and Johnson’s Shut-Ins are destinations for climbing enthusiasts. And Meramec State Park issues repelling permits Although published in 2001, Missouri Limestone Select: A Rock Climbing and Bouldering Guide by Sean Burns remains the go-to guide for rock climbing in the state.

HIKING Missouri State Parks boasts more than 1,000 miles of trails for exploring the wondrous landscape our state has to offer on foot. One summer isn’t nearly enough time to take in all the different types of terrain. From the rocky Ozarks to prairie grassland to dense forests, hikers can choose their scenery.

Prairie State Park in southwest Missouri is our largest tallgrass prairie. Less than 1 percent of Missouri’s tallgrass prairies exist today. American bison roam the land while meadowlarks sail across the sky. The park is home to more than 150 birds, 25 mammals, 25 reptiles, 12 amphibians and 500 species of plants. Of those, more than 25 are rare and endangered species.

Missouri State Parks has checklists of flora and fauna, maps, and detailed information about each of our state parks and their hiking trails on its website mostateparks.com.

COURTESY OF MISSOURI STATE PARKS AND EVAN WOOD

2015

OUTDOORS

Missouri Life Now on Google's Field Trip App! Going on a trip? Why not take us with you? Field Trip, a new app from Google, uses your phone’s GPS to show you the interesting, unexpected things that are nearby. Missouri Life is proud to announce you can now find stories and selections from the magazine while you travel with Field Trip!

Walk in the Footsteps of Daniel Boone!

The Historic Daniel Boone Home & Heritage Center 1868 Hwy F, Defiance, Missouri www.danielboonehome.com (636) 798-2005 [108] MissouriLife

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2015

OUTDOORS

ZIPLINES SKYDIVING Nothing will make your heart pound like falling thousands of feet at a rate of 120 miles per hour toward the ground. Skydiving companies exist in all regions of the state, and online reviews boast about the unique patchwork views made up by farmland and colors Missouri has to offer from above.

St. Louis, Springfield, Kansas City, Perry, Mt. Vernon, and Montgomery City all offer skydiving excursions. Whether it is tandem, accelerated free fall, or static line jumping, Missouri can accommodate the adrenaline junkie’s need to jump from an airplane.

Show Your Missouri

Spirit!

Bed and Breakfast Inns of Missouri The only place where you’ll find Inspected and Approved member inns at locations statewide.

T-Shirts!

Escape Into The Ozark Hills!

$12.99*

www.bbim.org

Hats!

BBIM Gift Certificates Are Available

$9.99*

ShowMe ZIPLINES $9.99*

Nature print greeting cards!

Pack of 12 Missouri locations.

www.MissouriLife.com/store 800-492-2593, ext. 101

B F COURTESY OF MIKE KELLNER AND JEFF SCHAPLER

Prefer a view from the top? Missouri has no less than twenty zipline tours offered across the state, although Branson is home to most. Eagle Falls Ranch in Eminence was the first. This amazing view of the Jack Forks River and Ozarks is as thrilling a ride as the scenery is breathtaking. Night ziplining adventures are now being offered at the ranch.

Show Me Ziplines in Rayville has nine lines, ranging from 300-2,000 feet. The first few lines are known as beginner lines and let participants get a feel for the equipment.

If you prefer staying in the city, Go Ape Ziplines has one of the only urban ziplines in Missouri. The course in Creve Coeur Park in St. Louis is best described as a treetop obstacle course. Climb rope ladders, swing like Tarzan, and overcome other challenging, but doable obstacles to reach the lines. Complete the course by way of the trees.

816-699-9739 15510 Highway C Rayville, MO showmeziplines@gmail.com www.showmeziplines.com Find us on Facebook!

Cottages and cabins in the woods on a scenic Ozark River. Fish, swim, canoe, wade, hike, nature watch and unwind in a natural, secluded location.

Mid-Missouri. 573-759-6081 www.rockeddy.com

Enjoy the ride: We’re open 7 days a week!

Monday through Saturday: 9 AM-6PM Sunday: 3-6 PM

9 lines, ranging between 300 ft. to 2,000 ft. long!

*Shipping and tax will be added to all orders.

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Benton County FUN YOUR WAY! UPCOMING EVENTS: April 25 Kids Fishing Free Day Lost Valley Fish Hatchery Warsaw April 25 Benton County Wine Stroll Warsaw May 2 Cinco de Mayo Pub Crawl Cole Camp May 16 Rockin’ Motorbikes & BBQ Cole Camp June 3 - 6 Jubilee Days Family Fun for Everyone Warsaw

www.visitbentoncomo.com

SPORTS & RECREATION FOR ALL AGES! HAVE FUN YOUR WAY IN BENTON COUNTY, MO. [111] April 2015

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OVER THE

Line

PICTURE-SHOW PILGRIMAGES Venture across the state line to getaways inspired by the silver screen.

Wamego, Kansas

Wonderful Wizard of Wine MERLOTS and Rieslings and

chef to make homemade hors

one of the largest privately owned

blends—oh my! With names like

d’oeuvres for guests. Visitors can

collections of The Wizard of Oz

Poppy Fields, Wine of a Different

stop by the winery to enjoy a tour

memorabilia.

Color, Flying Monkey, and The Lion’s

of their production room or a pri-

A yellow brick road will not

Courage, the Oz Winery in down-

vate wine tasting. The winery also

guide you there, so find the Oz

town Wamego, Kansas, makes wine

offers culinary tasting tours that

Winery at 417 Lincoln Avenue. It’s

with a Wizard of Oz theme.

pair its varietals with cuisines

open year-round, Monday through

from around the world.

Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and

Co-owner Noah Wright makes all of the wines in-house, while

Outside of the winery, Wamego

his partner, Brooke Balderson,

flaunts multiple Oz-tractions, in-

Sundays from 12 pm to 5 pm. Visit ozwinerykansas.com

uses her background as a pastry

cluding the Oz Museum—home to

information.—Taylor Fox

for

more

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Chester, Illinois

Fine-Dining Flicks

Sailorman Scavenger Hunt

THE MOVIE Lounge in Fort Smith, Arkansas, puts a whole new spin on

LAND-LOVERS can get a taste of the sea in Chester, Illinois, the

the concept of dinner and a movie.

hometown of Popeye creator Elzie Crisler Segar. Local legend has it that Pop-

stuffed inside chicken breast that’s wrapped in house-cured, maple-dijon-glazed

eye was actually based on the life of a resident bachelor known for fighting and smoking a pipe.

bacon and called apple rumaki—or you can order top-notch tacos and sandwiches,

Throughout the town,

like the open-faced egg sandwich—quail egg with smoked mozzarella, spinach,

you can see statues of be-

red peppers, and pesto.

loved Popeye characters,

“We try to get the orders in early, so

including Bluto, Olive Oyl,

there are no distractions during the mov-

Swee’Pea,

and

Wimpy.

ie,” says T.J. Staples, general manger.

These granite statues have

If you need something during the movie,

been Chester staples for

like a cocktail during an unfunny comedy,

the past thirty years and

there’s a discreet red light at each table to

are each erected with the

get the waiter’s attention. And if eating dur-

help of donations.

ing the movie is too distracting, you can dine

The official Popeye fan club hosts an annual fall picnic to commemorate the

or get drinks in the Starlight Ballroom, which

iconic character and to tour the city that inspired the franchise, but anyone can

offers an expanded menu.

enjoy the Popeye Character Trail year-round.

“We have a great bar and ambience,” T.J.

With a population of fewer than nine thousand people, Chester is located along

says. “You won’t find anyplace like it nearby.”

the Mississippi River near Ste. Genevieve, and the Popeye Statue Trail Welcome

Visit movieloungefsm.com for movie

Center is located at 1415 Swanwick Street. A downloadable map can be found at

times and more information.—Jonas Weir

chesterill.com.—Taylor Fox

COURTESY OF MOVIE LOUNGE AND OZ WINERY; NOTLEY HAWKINS

From your seat in the theater, you can order high-brow appetizers—like apple

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OVERthe Line

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Visit Miami, 0klahoma! (My-Am-Uh) 15 area attractions, 8 hotels and 13 area casinos allow you to play and stay longer in Miami, Oklahoma. Take in a show or stop by for a tour of the Historic Coleman Theatre, visit Mickey Mantle’s childhood home, drive the only remaining stretch of historic Route 66 Ribbon Road, enjoy a concert or event and get a burger at Waylan’s Ku-Ku Drive In. Pow-wows, museums, fishing, gaming you’ll need a longer vacation to fit it all in!

MIAMI HOTELS

Free Visitor Guide!

America’s Best Value Inn .......... 918.542.6681 Deluxe Inn Motel....................... 918.542.5600 Econolodge ................................ 918.542.6631 Hampton Inn and Suites ........... 918.541.1500 Holiday Inn Express .................. 918.542.7424 Legacy Inn and Suites ............... 918.542.3382 Microtel Inn and Suites ............. 918.540.3333

Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau 918-542-4435 | VisitMiamiOK.com Greencountryok.com

800.922.2118

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California Impressionism

The IrvIne MuseuM

William Wendt A Clear Day oil on canvas, c. 1903 (detail), 30" x 40"

Selections from

MAy 3 through SepteMber 6, 2015 1400 N. Gilcrease MuseuM rd.

Tulsa, OK 918-596-2700 Gilcrease.uTulsa.edu

A University of Tulsa/City of Tulsa Partnership The University of Tulsa is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action institution. For EEO/AA information, contact the Office of Human Resources, 918-631-2616; for disability accommodations, contact Dr. Tawny Taylor, 918-631-2315.

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Travel with Fellow Missourians!

Spain, Portugal, & Morocco

Book Now! Seats are almost full!

13 Days • October 12-25, 2015 $4,171 includes air from Kansas City or St. Louis Take scenic drives through the rugged mountain ranges of Spain and Portugal. Beautiful forests, mountain streams, and lakes provide magnificent views. Visit quaint towns and wander cobblestone alleys. See the charming water gardens and fountains.

Bask in the sun, and enjoy the sandy beaches on 4-star hotels, plus full buffe t Costa Del Sol or shop the trendy boutiques. Sail breakfasts da ily an d 6 th re eacross the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco, and visit course dinners! exciting Tangier. Explore the colorful Grand Socco Square and the narrow streets of the Kasbah.

Join Greg & Danita Wood, publisher & editor in chief of Missouri life

For more info and a link to the informative webinar visit missourilife.com/travel/travel-with-fellow-missourians/ or travelerslane.com 314-223-1224 • travelerslane@hotmail.com

We’ll visit: Madrid Segovia Avila Salamanca Fatima Lisbon Seville Tangier Costa Del Sol Granada and Toledo

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Musings ON MISSOURI

WHY I’M A RACIST

BY RON MARR

ANDREW BARTON

I’M PRETTY SURE I qualify as a racist. That said, my intolerant predispositions don’t incorporate caste, social standing, sex, creed, skin color, gender, religion, disability, ethnic background, or national origin. My biased inclinations never seem to center upon those traits with which one is born. They’re about something else entirely.

I’ve spent months, if not minutes, peering into the dusty corners of my soul and engaging in laborious self-analysis.

My hard-won epiphany tells me that my prejudices do not involve folks who are black, white, red, yellow, brown, mauve, taupe, beige, or green. Well, that last one might not be totally honest. I wouldn’t sit next to a Martian at dinner, but that’s only because Martians are notorious for their desire to consume human flesh.

I don’t care if people pray to God, Allah, Buddha, Shiva, or a hand-carved totem pole topped with the visages of Groucho Marx, Taylor Swift, and the original members of the Harmonicats. I don’t care who marries what. My thoughts on ideology and political affiliation have taken on a different flavor than in years past, and I don’t give a rat’s hindquarters what message emanates from the soapbox of any given blowhard. They all sound the same anyway, and 99.999 percent of the time, said blowhards are merely spouting slightly tweaked versions of lies that were old when Methuselah was a kid.

It’s not that I don’t have opinions (I have an infinite supply), and it’s not that I’ve become sensitive, inclusive, and tolerant of all things. Hell, I’m the personification of a walking, talking, antediluvian anachronism. But, the salient point here is that I don’t care what others think. My opinions are none of their business. Their opinions are none of mine. Stay out of my face, and I’ll stay out RON MARR of yours ... guaranteed.

In the simplest possible terms, I strive to ignore most of the nonsense that inflames the citizenry of the planet with rage, scorn, ire, and acid reflux. It’s usually ridiculous, petty, and not worth my, your, or anyone else’s time. I’ve come to believe that the best recipe for a happy life is to form your own convictions, believe them truly, and (here’s the important part) dispense with the insane need to force them upon others.

Sadly, the readers of most metaphysical cookbooks roundly ignore that recipe. The greater part of our species seems to prefer a malodorous dish chock full of righteous indignation, aggression, domination, and dogmatic braying.

Such people lack the ability to live and let live. The countless millions who insist upon trying to coerce, convince, convert, and compel others to embrace their vision of “truth, justice, and salvation” cause me no end of vexation.

Sometimes they use words and mass media. Sometimes they use guns and swords. Sometimes they just knock on my door, wake up my dogs, and cause me to be a trifle intemperate. Obviously, there are degrees of offense here; those who lop off heads should be handed a much harsher fate than those who interrupt Hugo’s rabbit-chasing nap time, but the root problem and core motivation behind both behaviors are similar.

It’s the audacious certitude that “I’m right and you’re wrong and I’m going to force you to think like me.” It’s the dictatorial mandate of those with a Messiah complex, the credendum of “I’m going to protect you from yourself.”

That’s just rude, and that’s where I draw the line, and that’s why I’m a racist.

Of course, my disgust is with the antics of the human race in general ... I couldn’t care less about the color or superficial identifying traits of its individual members.

That would be supremely stupid.

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HEIRLOOM Empire Jere Gettle is making a difference in his community and building his business, one seed at a time.

BY CAROLYN TOMLYN

COURTESY OF BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY

A LITTLE MORE than two decades ago, you wouldn’t recognize Baker Creek Farm near Mansfield.

That was before Jere Gettle and his family relocated from their Montana farm to the Ozarks.

Today, much of the once vacant 176 acres are planted with dozens of varieties of seed-producing plants, both fruits and vegetables. Committed to showing others the value of eating natural, locally grown food that’s free of pesticides and preservatives, Jere teaches by example. Visitors to the farm are not surprised; after all, this is the Show-Me State.

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At the Bakersville Pioneer Village near Mansfield, this representation of an Ozark family homestead exhibits what life was like during the nineteenth century in Missouri.

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Spectacular gardens dot the Bakersville Pioneer Village, where an old flour mill invites visitors to learn more about food production during Missouri’s frontier days.

All of the seeds that the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company sells can be found in this 356-page, full-color catalog.

Born in 1980 and raised in rural Montana, Jeremiath Gettle’s life was markedly different from the typical America kid during the 1980s and early 1990s. After all, Jere’s parents were modern-day homesteaders.

“We lived off the land,” Jere says.

Jere credits his ancestors—farmers who worked the land in Siberia, Germany, and Mexico—for passing on this rich heritage of growing things. Almost entirely self-sufficient, the family raised nearly all of their own food, including farm animals, fruits, and vegetables.

During his childhood, Jere spent much of his time in the garden.

“No, I wasn’t born there,” he says, laughing.

However, when he was an infant, his mother, Debbie Gettle, did bring him in a bassinet out to the field where she and his father, Jim Gettle, picked vegetables.

Jere’s youth was not unlike another famous Missourian: Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of The Little House on the Prairie. Being homeschooled, he and his sister enjoyed a certain

amount of freedom from the confinement of the classroom.

“Camping was a favorite family pastime, and I recall jumping in my dad’s 1975 Ford pickup and driving into the mountains,” he says. “There, we slept near a cliff close to the tree line and observed hawks and eagles swooping by. Summertime meant outdoor activity. Collecting bird’s nests, dodging rattlesnakes, and picking wild mushrooms in the fields filled my days.”

Even as a small boy, Jere was enchanted by the possibilities of what could be created with seeds, sunshine, and soil. Like a giant crayon box, he explored the different colors and shapes of plants. And he actually learned to read by reading seed catalogs and memorizing the exotic names he would find.

But change was coming. Searching for land that provided a longer growing season, his parents found and settled on a 176-acre Ozark farm in central Missouri, near Mansfield, known as Baker Creek. For Jere, the move was bittersweet.

COURTESY OF BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY

SHOW-ME

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“I would miss the Montana farm with our extended family,” he says, “but I was excited about those long, hot summers that allowed me to grow my dream crop—watermelons.”

At twelve years old, he was already thinking like a seasoned farmer.

REALIZING A DREAM

COURTESY OF BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY

With a growing passion to develop his own company, Jere started his own business, the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in 1998.

He was seventeen years old.

“This was the year I sent out my first twelvepage catalog,” he says. “This publication offered seventy-five varieties of seeds grown on our land.”

Soon, the new-found business had hundreds of customers. Within a year, the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company not only occupied his bedroom, but it also overflowed into the free space in the family farm house. Upstairs, downstairs, even the steps were covered with

Top: Emilee and Jere Gettle and their two daughters—Sasha and Malia, from left to right—are the family behind the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. They live at the farm and travel around the world to places like Afghanistan, Colombia, Nigeria, Russia, and Vietnam looking for the best rare seeds. Bottom: There aren’t just heirloom fruits and vegetables at the Baker Creek Farm.

The Gettle family raises animals, too, including goats, scores of chickens, dairy cows, and other livestock.

boxes of seeds, price lists, postage supplies, and drying racks.

“I remember working late into the night,” he says, “filling orders, and then catching a few winks wrapped in a sleeping bag on the kitchen floor.”

Although the business was growing steadily, one event helped Baker Creak Heirloom Seed Company grow astronomically: Y2K. In the time leading up to New Year’s Eve 1999, people across the country feared that on the stroke of midnight, computers’ clocks would breakdown and cause a shutdown of the United States and the world. Americans started to panic at the thought of what chaos a massive computer glitch like this could cause. However, Jere saw opportunity.

That year, he loaded up two- and five-gallon buckets from a hardware store, filled them with twenty-five bags of open pollinated seeds, and marketed them as the Baker Creek Homestead Seed Package. Orders poured in. Mountain men who stored shotguns in their basements, women who wanted a food supply for their families, those who wanted emergency food, and every other panicked type in between placed orders.

“The world didn’t come to an end, though.”

Jere says. “And most people don’t even remember the fear. But it changed the way Baker Creek Seeds did business. Sales increased from $1,000 in 1998 to $40,000 in 1999. This experience taught me an important lesson: to stay connected to our customers and to keep up with what is happening in the world.”

And with that success, the company began to earn wider recognition. With that acknowledgement came media attention and an unexpected connection that forever changed Jere’s life.

“A young writer by the name of Emilee Frele conducted a phone interview about a story on the seed company,” he says. “After the article was published, we stayed in touch.

Meeting a couple of months later, I knew this was the woman I wanted to marry. Like me, Emilee was in the garden as a child, where the love of planting and growing was passed on to her from her grandparents.”

Emilee and Jere married, and the couple now has two daughters. Everyone is a part of

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the operation, making it a true family business.

Throughout the year, the Gettles travel together to Asia, South America, and other markets to seek out heirloom seeds. Then, they return to their Missouri farm and continue the process of saving our history.

DECLINING HEIRLOOMS

Jere Gettle’s vintage Chevy sits in front of the Livery Stable in the Bakersville Pioneer Village. The Livery Stable serves as the meeting hall for speakers during the fall festival.

of years, passed down from generation to generation. Heirlooms varieties are valued for any number of reasons—color, flavor, resilience— but most are noted for their idiosyncratic qualities. From white carrots and purple cauliflower to yellow watermelons and striped tomatoes, the seeds of these extraordinary plants have become the heart and soul of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.

“Our mission is to promote pure, healthy food that is free from genetic modification and toxic chemicals by educating people about natural gardening methods and historic seeds,” he says. “And the most cost-effective and enjoyable way to eat heirlooms is to plant them yourself.”

MAKING CONNECTIONS Like any business, Jere realized advertising is essential to growing his business. It isn’t enough just to grow fruit and vegetable seeds; consumers need to know where to purchase these items. His first marketing idea was publishing a seed catalog, not unlike the ones he read as a child. His first catalog, published in 1998, was a black-and-white, twelve-page booklet with a run of five hundred copies.

Today, the 2015 Whole Seed Catalog is like something out of Jere’s boyhood dreams. With 356 colored pages, over 1,800 heirloom varieties, and a record printing, it is a treasure of

Michael Mahan and David Leroy Kaiser harvest eggplant at the Baker Creek Farm. The Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company offers sixty-eight different varieties of eggplant.

information. More than two hundred new flavorful, fragrant, and ever more distinctive varieties of seeds from around the world fill the pages, and each item is listed with its origin and a brief historical overview. However, the bountiful seed catalog is not the only thing that reels in customers.

“We live in the age of technology,” says Gettle. “Today, we sell more seeds from the web sites than from mail order or telephone calls.”

Today, growers need to keep up with the latest marketing trends in fruits and vegetables faster than ever before. To keep up, the company uses quality digital photos to help sell the seeds. Although his business is all about getting back to the land, Jere needs to be just as tech-savvy as the next business owner.

VISITING THE VILLAGE The largest, most direct way the company connects to its customers is through The Bakersville Pioneer Village. This project is centered around bringing a historic village and farm to life, in the spirit of the 1850s homesteader of the Ozark Mountains.

In 2007, with the help of some local Amish and Mennonite builders, the team at Baker

COURTESY OF BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY

The term heirloom applied to food is more commonplace than when the seed company started. In the mid-1990s, just before Jere launched the company, large seed markets introduced genetically modified crops into the country’s seed supply at unprecedented levels. Many of the great heirloom seeds were lost, but people like the Gettles became their keepers.

“I started saving seeds when I was thirteen,” Jere says. “Preserving historical varieties became my main purpose in life. I have a passion to inspire people to eat more produce, especially produce that is locally and naturally raised.”

Today, Jere is often called on to explain the term heirloom in the context of seeds and food. Heirloom seeds are varieties of seed that have been around for decades, if not hundreds

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COURTESY OF BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY

Creek Heirloom Seed Company started with an old-time mercantile store on what was once a historic homesteader farm, the old Rippee family farm. The project quickly expanded from there.

Next, they added an apothecary, a native stone oven, a new music barn, a historic jail, a brick herb garden, and an heirloom poultry house. Today, the village also includes a seed museum, blacksmith shop, historic livestock barns, a bakery, a hatchery, new gardens, vegan restaurant, and more. Now, you can visit and see employees dressed in period costumes—just like they came from a day in the field or milking the cow. The best part is that visiting the village is free, except for during the Spring Planting Festival.

Heritage Day Festivals are held the first Sunday of each month, March through October, and several hundred people usually attend. These fun-filled events celebrate each season with produce, music, crafts, and speakers that cover all gardening topics. In addition to the Heritage Day events, the Spring Planting Festival and Heirloom Garden Show features speakers on gardening history, saving seeds, growing fruit and vegetables, cooking, hand pollinating, marketing, pest control, and much more about many heirloom and organic crops.

These celebrations also bring in crowds that want to hear live music, whether they’re fans of country, folk, bluegrass, or western.

And it’s not just locals; people from many states make their way to the pioneer village for annual garden shows and festival days, which adds some excitement to Wright

Packaging is a part of the charm. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds feature beautiful sketches of fruits and vegetables.

David Leroy Kaiser and his antique pickup truck are familiar sights to Bakersville Pioneer Village visitors. Here, he loads up vegetables outside of the flour mill.

2015 EVENTS County, population 18,473, according to the US Census Bureau.

“The town of Mansfield benefits in numerous ways when people visit Bakersville,” says Connie Roberts, who owns Weaver Inn in Mansfield. “My husband and I fill-up our sixroom bed-and-breakfast early when a festival day is scheduled.”

Festival-goers stop in and shop at the area’s restaurants, convenience stores, and markets.

And gas stations in the area sell ice, and lots of it. Free tent and RV camping is allowed on the farm for the festivals. For a small fee, vendors are welcome to bring garden tools, seeds, crafts, and produce.

“Bakersville Pioneer Village is one of the best things to happen to Wright County,” says Loren Day, mayor of Mansfield. “The farm provides employment for our citizens, wholesome family activities, and a place where our young people learn about agriculture.”

Like Thomas Jefferson and his gardens at Monticello, Jere and Emilee Gettle are making a difference in the health and history of America, but especially in southwest Missouri. And they’re doing it by teaching and saving one seed at a time.

HERITAGE DAY FESTIVALS First Sunday of each month; March through October; 10 am to 6 pm; free

SPRING PLANTING FESTIVAL May 3 and 4; 10 am to 7 pm; $5, free for children 16 and younger To learn more about these events, visit rareseeds.com/resources/festivals or call 417-924-8917.

VISIT MANSFIELD BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY rareseeds.com 2278 Baker Creek Road • 417-924-8917 LAURA INGALLS WILDER HISTORIC HOME AND MUSEUM lauraingallswilderhome.com 3068 Route A • 877-924-7126 WEAVER INN weaverinnbb.com 100 E. Park Square • 417-924-2600

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HARRY KATZ

SHOW-ME

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Recipes by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company —MissouriLife —

ASPARAGUS AND SHIITAKE STIR-FRY Ingredients >

with Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter 5 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar 5 tablespoons blue agave nectar 3 tablespoons soy sauce 3 cloves chopped fresh garlic 1 tablespoon minced ginger 2 teaspoons chili paste, or more to taste 1 tablespoon sesame oil 2 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1 pound asparagus spears, ends trimmed, spears chopped into 2-inch pieces 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, thinly sliced 1/4 cup water, plus more to taste 1/4 cooked jasmine rice

Directions >

1. Combine peanut butter, rice vinegar, blue agave nectar, 3 garlic cloves, ginger, and chili paste together in a small saucepan, and whisk until smooth to make the sauce.

2. Bring the sauce mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until sauce thickens slightly.

3. Remove from heat and cool. Sauce will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

4. Heat sesame and canola oil in a large, heavy skillet or wok over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking.

5. Add shallots and garlic, and cook, stirring, until fragrant and shallots are softened.

6. Add asparagus, peppers, mushrooms, and water and cook over medium-high heat until mushrooms are softened and asparagus and peppers are tender-crisp, adding more water by the tablespoonful if vegetables become too dry.

7. Add peanut sauce and cook until sauce is absorbed and thickened.

Serve with rice.

Makes 4 servings.

—MissouriLife —

SHAVED ASPARAGUS AND ARUGULA SALAD

with Coconut-Lime Dressing

Ingredients >

1/4 pound asparagus stalks, tops trimmed off 4 cups arugula 1/2 pint multicolored heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup coconut milk 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 teaspoon lime zest 1 teaspoon agave nectar 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions >

HARRY KATZ

1. Use a sharp vegetable peeler to shave the asparagus into thin ribbons and reserve.

2. Arrange arugula leaves on a platter, and top with asparagus ribbons and tomatoes.

3. Whisk together coconut milk, lime juice, lime zest, agave nectar, and salt, and drizzle on top of salad.

Makes 6 servings.

Visit MissouriLife.com for more recipes from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and other Missouri restaurants.

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Dining worth the drive.

Moberly

The Sauce Boss BLACK MARKET BBQ

If ribs aren’t your thing, you’ll find

might sit next to Northeast Missouri

pulled pork, chicken, brisket, burnt ends,

Firearms, but don’t let the name con-

and great sides on the menu; the mac-

fuse you. This Moberly meat haunt sells

and-cheese might beat your mother’s.

ribs, not rifles.

There’s also a display of sweet treats by

And those ribs are why you should make the trip to Randolph County.

Todd Lewis’s ribs are hickory-smoked

the register. And don’t forget the sauce; you can buy it there and maybe at your local grocery store.—Wade Livingston

and lightly glazed with a sweet, tangy

Facebook: Black Market BBQ

sauce. He takes it slow, and the result is a

515 S. Morley Street • 573-268-2659

tender rib with a touch of tug as you pull it off the bone—the way it should be.

Todd has been making his own barbecue sauce for over a decade. He and his wife used to sell it out of the trunk of their car, and the sauce got so popular that Todd learned others were passing it off as their own. So, he branded the condiment and opened the restaurant in 2010.

Jefferson City

A Long Hard Pull JEFFERSON CITY and Cole County were actually damp rather than dry in the capital city the longest continuous bar in the state.

During prohibition, the place now known as Paddy Malone’s, which opened in 1863,

St. Louis

sold booze under the counter and out of the basement. During the supposed dry era,

Taste and Sea

it feigned business as a place to only buy soft drinks; some police looked the other way.

For 152 years, this grand old tavern has entertained thousands who wanted a drink and perhaps also a meal: Governor Warren Hearnes played poker upstairs for several

PEACEMAKER Lobster & Crab Co. opened less than a year ago, and

it’s

years during his tenure, and legend has it that outlaw Frank James stopped by the bar in

already winning top spots on every savvy foodie’s bucket list of must-tries.

1882 the day he surrendered.

St. Louis celebrity chef Kevin Nashan, who brought Sydney Street Cafe to fame, filled the menu of his second restaurant with seafood, flown in fresh from both coasts.

Today, Paddy Malone’s is a popular neighborhood bar and eatery a stone’s throw

And if fresh oysters, seafood boils, fried po’ boys, steamed crabs and mussels, and

from the state capitol. Owners Allen and

chowders aren’t enough, the menu is garnished with non-seafood dishes inspired by the

Marilee Tatman now run the place, which of-

chef’s favorite childhood restaurant. The corn dogs, smoked brisket sandwiches, fried

fers sixteen beers on tap and has a full menu

green tomatoes, and hush puppies earn particular praise.

of appetizers, burgers, salads, sandwiches,

Decor in the restaurant matches the food in casual, yet polished sophistication.

and English pub favorites. The food is great,

Weathered wood, white walls, and metal appointments create a neutral background that

and it’s worth stopping by just to get a taste

is enhanced by sea-glass colored Tolix chairs around high-gloss wood tables and stunning

of history. —Kathy Gangwisch

photos of fishermen hanging on walls.—Susan Katzmann

paddymalonespub.com • 700 W. Main Street

peacemakerstl.com • 1831 Sidney Street • 314-772-8858

573-761-5900

COURTESY OF PEACEMAKER LOBSTER AND CRAB CO.; KATHY GANGWISCH AND JILLIAN VONDY

during prohibition, which makes the tavern at the corner of West Main and Bolivar Streets

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Hundreds of European flavored sausages and meats Indoor - Outside Seating Microbrewery and Sodameister Great Gifts & Amish Food

Meats produced in house by Mike Sloan, two-time Hall of Fame Wurstmeister Mon to Sat 9-6 p.m. Sun 10-4 p.m.

Free samples

Located in historic downtown Hermann 234 East First Street, Hermann, MO 573-486-2266 | www.hermannwursthaus.com

The largest sutlery in the Midwest!

Carrying a complete line of Civil War Living History needs for Ladies, Gentlemen, Civilian, Military – featuring patterns, weapons, accessories, research. Our specialty: the Border Wars.

Custom orders at no additional cost!

Our clothing is American made!

111 N. Main, Liberty, MO • 816-781-9473 www.jamescountry.com • jamescntry@aol.com [127] April 2015

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Healthy Life

PREVENTION

IS THE

W

OMEN, FOR SOME REASON, have decided that it isn’t high on our list of priorities to see a doctor when we should. However, we have also decided that preventive care is time worth spending. The question is “Why?” Why, for instance, do statistics from the 2013 Women’s Health USA Report produced by the Department of Health and Human Services show that women fail to visit the doctor when they are ill? The answer seems to lie in how busy we are. Women reported that they don’t go to the doctor for reasons mostly related to transportation, time, and cost. The result is that women have a need for healthcare that is not being met.

Women’s healthcare needs include the obvious gynecological health and pregnancy issues, but we women have more to worry about than the obvious. Some diseases and illnesses not only single out our gender, but affect us more than men.

Osteoporosis and bone health are good examples. The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that out of the ten million Americans with osteoporosis, 80 percent are women. On average, women over fifty have a 50 percent chance to break a bone because of osteoporosis. According to the NOF, “A woman’s risk of breaking a hip is equal to her

Missouri programs support women and their unique healthcare needs.

BY NICHOLE L. BALLARD combined risk of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer.” Why? Biology. Women have smaller bones, and they are typically thinner. The hormone that protects our bones, estrogen, decreases after menopause, resulting in bone loss.

Heart disease is the number one killer of adults in the United States, but did you know that a woman is more likely to die following a heart attack than a man?

Not only do women wait longer than men to seek emergency care, but multiple sources claim physicians are slower to recognize heart attacks in women because the symptoms are different. Chest pain and EKG changes that typically signal heart attacks are less present in women. Also, for reasons unknown, women are less likely to receive beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, and aspirin, typical therapies used after a heart attack. According to the Women’s Heart Foundation, a woman is twice as likely than a man to die within the first weeks of having a heart attack.

On the other side of taking control of our special healthcare needs, a majority of women, according to the 2013 report, do sign up for preventive care.

The state of Missouri has special programs for preventive care for women: Show Me Healthy Women provides free

Most preventive services for women are covered by your insurance because of the Affordable Care Act through well-woman visits. Some of these services include: • Breast cancer screenings • Anemia screenings • Breast-feeding support and counseling • Osteoporosis screening • HPV testing • Some vaccines

breast and cervical cancer screenings, pap tests, and pelvic exams for women without insurance. The program helps more than nine thousand women yearly. The US Census Bureau estimates about 93,900 Missouri women are eligible. That means less than 10 percent of Missouri women who could are using the program. Out of the 114 counties in Missouri, 84 have providers approved by SMHW. WISEWOMAN (Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation) provides heart disease and stroke prevention screenings and education. Funded by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state, this program piggybacks onto the women’s cancer screening program. To be eligible, you must go through the SMHW program.

Only 44 Missouri counties have approved WISEWOMAN program providers. Although a provider is approved for SMHW, it does not mean they are a provider for WISEWOMAN. Find a program provider by visiting health .mo.gov and search for the programs by name.

National Women’s Wellness Week begins May 10.

Look for events in your local community.

ISTOCK

BEST MEDICINE

WELL-WOMAN VISITS

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Healthy Life

You don’t have to go very far for quality health care Did you know Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has been in your backyard for 78 years?

It’s no secret; we’ve been around the block a time or two. Some of us may even live on your block. After all, we’re a company that includes Missourians serving Missourians. And it’s our neighborly duty to tell you that health care is affordable and easy to get.

We have the strength, stability and experience to deliver: 

Access to high quality networks with more than 15,000 doctors and specialists throughout Missouri.



Affordable, innovative products designed to fit you and your family’s needs.



Personalized care that’s simple and ensures the right care at the right time — from online health programs and services to our new LiveHealth Online service that lets you interact with doctors online through a computer or mobile device. That’s right. If you or your child wakes up in the middle of the night with a fever, you can just hop online to chat with a board-certified doctor.

We hope you find this information helpful. After all, that’s what neighbors are for.

Want to learn more?

Visit anthem.com today.

In Missouri, (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area) Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of RightCHOICE® Managed Care, Inc. (RIT), Healthy Alliance® Life Insurance Company (HALIC), and HMO Missouri, Inc. RIT and certain affiliates administer non-HMO benefits underwritten by HALIC and HMO benefits underwritten by HMO Missouri, Inc. RIT and certain affiliates only provide administrative services for self-funded plans and do not underwrite benefits. Independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

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Healthy Life

May 2, 9am to 2pm

Second Annual Mid-Mo Health Expo Fair

Mid-Mo Health Expo is ready for Missouri families.

The second annual Mid-Mo Health Expo Fair is happening in May. The expo will be at the Broadway Christian church this year and open to Missouri families from 9 am to 2 pm, May 2. Screenings and activities are all free and a great way to start your spring off right.

Here are just a few of the health screenings that will be offered this year: • • • • • • • • • • • •

Blood chemistry screening Blood count screening Hemoglobin A1C screening Colon Cancer screening take home kit Ask a pharmacist Height/weight/body mass index Blood pressure/pulse screening Oral health screening and education Vision screening Hearing screening Child safety ID Family wellness activities

The blood chemistry screening provides information on your blood sugar (glucose), cholesterol, triglycerides, liver, kidney, bone, and muscle functions, and may show warning signs of diabetes, heart disease, and other concerns. Blood count screenings check the health of your blood. Average blood sugar levels are checked through a Hemoglobin A1C screening. All of the free screenings provide a way to monitor your family’s health, even dental and vision.

D&H Drugstore is happy to be a sponsor of the ShowMe Child ID at the 2015 Mid-Mo Health Expo. The free health screenings and information provided at this event are a valuable tool for you to take charge of your health and share your results with your health care provider.

Jennifer Brooks, Marketing Director for D&H Drugstore

But the expo is for businesses, too. Charles McKee, Market Development Manager with Accurate Rx Pharmacy took advantage of the expo last year and came away with strong alliances.

“We understand the importance of creating healthy habits for your family—when you’re not sure where to start, just start with Mid-Mo Health Expo,” says Aaron Boone, program manager of the Mid-Mo Health Expo.

“The 2014 Mid-Mo Health Expo was an amazing way to take my new position at Accurate Rx Pharmacy and build strong connections with local companies and the people that help support them, allowing me to create new relationships at the expo that would not only be impactful for business but would come together and share a common goal of providing the best health care for patients. The friendships, connections, and information provided from the expo will always be memorable.” —Charles McKee.

To avoid waiting in lines for screenings at the event we suggest pre-registering by visiting our website midmohealthexpo.com or call 573-442-6599.

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You could be golfing...

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Centrally Located, Just 30 Miles North of Columbia at the Junction of Highways 63 and 24 See what’s happening in Moberly at www.moberly.com

Call the Midwife photo: Laurence Cendrowicz; Mr. Selfridge photo: ŠITV; Wolf Hall photo: Ed Miller

Celebrating 35 Years

Sundays in April Call the Midwife 7 p.m.

Masterpiece Classic: Mr. Selfridge 8 p.m.

Wolf Hall 9 p.m.

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[132] MissouriLife

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ALL AROUND

Missouri A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 5

CENTRAL WEEKLY WILDFLOWER WALKS April 2-May 14 (Thurs.), Columbia > Each week, take a guided hike to a different part of the park, and learn the identification marks and folklore of each wildflower. Rock Bridge Memorial State Park.

5:30-7 pm. Free. 573-449-7400, mostateparks.com /park/rock-bridge-memorial-state-park

EASTER PARADE AND EGG HUNT April 5, Arrow Rock > Wear your best bonnet or decorated hat, and join the parade and candy-filled Easter egg hunt. Main Street and State Historic Site.

2-3 pm. Free. 660-837-3330, mostateparks.com /park/arrow-rock-state-historic-site

HEARTS LIKE FISTS April 9-12, Columbia > This superhero comedy details the dangers of love. Warehouse Theatre.

7:30 pm Fri.-Sat.; 2 pm Sun. $6-$8. 573-876-7199, stephens.edu/performing-arts

THE BOYS NEXT DOOR April 10-11 and 17-18, Versailles > A humorous and compassionate play explores the lives of four men and their social worker. The Royal Theatre. 7 pm. $5$10. 573-378-6226, theroyaltheatre.com

ARCHERY TOURNAMENT

COURTESY OF PHYLLIS MOORE PHOTOGRAPHY

April 12, Marshall > A 3-D archery tournament.

Indian Foothills Park. 7 am-3 pm. Free to spectators.

660-886-2714, marshallbowhunters.com

EARTH DAY

JIM THE WONDER DOG DAY

Marshall is the home of Jim the Wonder Dog, and this festival celebrates the famous canine.

Bring your favorite dog out on May 16 from 11 am to 1 pm for the doggy parade, dress up your dog for the Top Dog Model contest, enter the Jim Look Alike contest, and show off the best tricks in the Wonder Dog of the Year event. There will be obedience demonstrations, dancing dogs, and a hot dog eating contest (for humans). The festival is free. For more information call 660-886-8191 or visit jimthewonderdog.com.

April 19, Columbia > Eco-friendly vendors, booths, food, live music, and a children’s activity area.

Peace Park and downtown. Noon-7 pm. Free.

573-875-0539, columbiaearthday.org

CELEBRATE EARTH DAY April 24, Jefferson City > Educational booths and family activities. Missouri State Capitol lawn. Noon4 pm. Free. 800-361-4827, dnr.mo.gov/earthday These listings are chosen by our editors and are not paid for by sponsors.

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CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL April 24, Marshall > Chocolate baking contest, pie eating contest, King and Queen contest, vendors, face painting, and silent auction. Martin Community Center. 7-9 PM. $5-$10 for taste tickets.

660-886-2714, marshallmochamber.com

MORELS AND MICROBREW April 25, Fulton > Morel mushrooms and merchandise for sale, regional breweries, live music, and kids activities. The Brick District. 1-5 PM. Free ($20 to sample beer). 573-642-8010, thebrickdistrict.com

CRUISIN’ AT THE CAPITAL MALL April 25 and May 30, Jefferson City > Listen to music, and see cars on display. Capital Mall. 4-8 PM. Free. 573-680-7155, visitjeffersoncity.com

April 29, Columbia > Trucks of all shapes and sizes will be on display for climbing on and sitting in. Columbia Mall at the Target wing parking lot.

4-7 PM. Free. 573-874-7460, gocolumbiamo.com

WHERE WILDFLOWERS GROW May 2, Columbia > Take a two-mile guided hike in the Gans Creek Wild Area, and learn about woodland wildflowers. Rock Bridge Memorial State Park.

9-11:30 AM. Free. 573-449-7400, mostateparks .com/park/rock-bridge-memorial-state-park

CEDAR CROSS RACE May 2, Jefferson City > This bicycling event covers about 113 miles of back roads, cattle fields, and parts of the Cedar Creek Trail. Meet at the North Jefferson City commuter lot. Starts at 8 AM. Costs vary. 800-769-4183, cedarcross.wordpress.com

LIBERTY JAZZ BAND CONCERT May 2, Versailles > Performance features a variety of jazz from early Dixieland, big band, and gospel to modern pop tunes. The Royal Theatre. 7 PM. $5-$10.

573-378-6226, theroyaltheatre.com

HIDDEN PLACES, SECRET PLACES May 3, Jefferson City > Ride the trolley to tour finished and unfinished historic properties, and learn about their preservation. Downtown. 1-4 PM. $5.

573-291-3524, downtownjeffersoncity.com

SPRING ART STROLL May 8, Jefferson City > Stroll down the street, and see artists at work, theatre groups, acoustic musicians, and street performers. Downtown. 6-9 PM. Free. 573-680-5468, visitjeffersoncity.com

SPRING FLING May 16, Marshall > Vendors, farmer’s market, Rotary basketball Shoot Out competition, bike rodeo, Shriner’s parade, and Armed Forces ceremony.

Downtown Square. 9 AM-4 PM. Free. 660-8863324, marshallchamber.com

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts in Springfield presents this Tony Award-winning Broadway musical inspired by the true story of the recording session that brought together Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins for one time only. Tap your toes to hits including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Great Balls of Fire,” and “Folsom Prison Blues.” The show starts at 8 PM. Tickets range from $25 to $60 and can be purchased by calling 417-836-7676 or visiting hammonshall.com.

KINDNESS IS CONTAGIOUS May 20, Columbia > This family event features music, crafts, face painting, and activities that promote kindness and mental health. Cosmo Park. 6-8 PM. Free. 573-874-7460, gocolumbiamo.com

SALUTE TO VETERANS AIRSHOW May 23-24, Columbia > Canadian Forces National demonstration team, the Snowbirds, US Army Golden Knight parachute team, aerial flight and aerobatic demonstrations, B-25 Mitchell Bomber, MU Pershing Rifles Drill Team, airplane tours, and WWI Kansas City Dawn Patrol with 18 planes flying and on display. Columbia Regional Airport. 9 AM3:30 PM. Free. 573-268-3483. salute.org

CALLAWAY PLEIN AIR May 28-31, Fulton > Fifty Missouri artists will create more than 150 paintings with an exhibition to follow. Watch the artists paint from 10 AM-6 PM each day. Art House. Exhibit runs from May 31-July 30. 10 AM-6 PM Mon.-Fri.; 10 AM-5 PM Sat. Free. 573592-7733, arthousefultonmo.org

BATTLE OF MONDAY’S HOLLOW May 30-31, Linn Creek > Visit the infantry, cavalry, and artillery camps and medical tent. Watch the battle. Listen to period speakers and music. And hear the cannon firing. Missouri Trapshooters Association grounds. 9 AM-9:30 PM Sat.; 9 AM-4 PM Sun. Free ($10 donation for parking). 573-346-7191, camdencountymuseum.com

SOUTHWEST BISON HIKE April 4, Mindenmines > Take a two-mile hike to see bison in their natural habitat. Prairie State Park.

10 AM-noon. Free. 417-843-6711, mostateparks .com/park/prairie-state-park

KITE FESTIVAL April 11, Springfield > Kite making and flying, cherry blossoms in bloom at the Japanese Stroll Garden, and activities. Botanical Center. 11 AM-3 PM. Free (except kite kits). 417-891-1515, parkboard.org

BLUEGRASS MARTINS CONCERT May 29-30, Versailles > The Martin family performs traditional and contemporary songs, including fan favorites and originals. The Royal Theatre.

7 PM. $5-$10. 573-378-6226, theroyaltheatre.com

KIDS IN THE ATTIC

KIDFEST

IT’S A DRIVE-BY TREEING!

May 30, Jefferson City > Family-friendly event with games, demonstrations, and activities for children of all ages. Downtown. 10 AM-2 PM. Free. 573634-6487, visitjeffersoncity.com

April 12, Mt. Vernon > A youth theater group performs a musical revue that tackles bullying. The MARC Theatre. 3 PM. Free. 417-461-0295, arts.webs.com

April 18, Joplin > Drive up, and place your order for trees and shrubs native to the area. Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center. 10 AM-2 PM. Free. 417-782-6287, wildcatglades.audubon.org

COURTESY OF MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

TONS OF TRUCKS

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ART WALK April 24, Carthage > Multimedia art works will be on display and for sale. Downtown. 6-9 PM. Free.

417-359-8184, carthageartwalk.org

ROCK’N RIBS FESTIVAL April 24-25, Springfield > Live music, BBQ samples, and Kansas City BBQ Society-sanctioned contest. Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. 5-11 PM Fri.; 11 AM11 PM Sat., $10. 417-833-2660, rocknribs.com

EARTH DAY NATURE HIKE April 25, Hermitage > Join park staff for a hike on Cedar Bluff Trail to see wildflowers, birds, and animals. Pomme de Terre State Park. 10-11:30 AM. Free.

417-852-4291, mostateparks.com/park/pomme-de -terre-state-park

OZARK HIDDEN TREASURES May 1-2, Pierce, Aurora, and Exeter > Get a block pattern at each shop on this quilters’ “shop hop.”

The Thistle, Quilted Garden, and P-Dubs Quilts and Stuff. 9 AM-5 PM. $5. 417-476-5844, cassville.com

DOGWOOD CAR FESTIVAL May 2, Cassville > Informal competition and display of more than 100 cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Main Street. 8 AM-2 PM. Free ($20 per vehicle to compete). 417-847-2814, cassville.com

OLD DRUM DAY

Enjoy this family-friendly event on April 11 in Warrensburg. The grounds at the Historic Johnson County Courthouse will host a 5K fun run, best friends’ dog show, the Warrensburg Wheels car show, live music, lots of entertainment, and a variety of craft and food vendors. The highlight of the day will be the live reenactment of the historic Old Drum dog trial. The trial, which progressed from the Justice of the Peace to Missouri’s Supreme Court, became famous for an attorney’s eloquent closing tribute to the dog, which spread the phrase, “A man’s best friend is his dog.” The festival is free and from 9 AM-4 PM. Call 660-747-6480 or visit warrensburgmainstreet.com for more information.

GATSBY DAYS

KIDS FREE FISHING May 2, Lebanon > Volunteers will assist children under 15 in the art of fishing. Plus, there will be lunch and educational events. Bennett Spring State Park. 6:30 AM-8:15 PM. Free. 417-532-4418, mostateparks.com/park/bennett-spring-state-park

ARTSFEST ON WALNUT STREET May 2-3, Springfield > Visual and performing arts with more than 140 artists, five performance stages, and a children’s area. Historic Walnut Street. 10 AM-5 PM. $5. 417-862-2787, springfieldartsfest.org

CAR SHOW May 16, Fair Grove > Cars on display, craft vendors, music, and entertainment. Historic Main Street.

10 AM-5 PM. Free. 417-229-2982, fairgrove.org

ARTS FESTIVAL

COURTESY OF SANDRA WAYNE

May 16, Pierce City > Fine and folk art representing southwest Missouri, root beer floats from 1-2 PM, art workshops, and wine tasting garden. South Park behind St. Mary’s. 9 AM-5 PM. Free ($7 tasting).

417-489-3041, piercecityartsfestival.webs.com

GLADE DAY May 23, Joplin > Explore the unique chert glade, walk along the Silver Creek Chert Glade, visit discovery stations, and meet the mascot—Cherty the Collard Lizard. Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center. Noon-2 PM. Free. 417-782-6287, wildcatglades.audubon.org

KANSAS CITY AN EVENING ADVENTURE April 1, Knob Noster > Join a naturalist to hike and discover all of the interesting things happening in the park during the evening. Knob Noster State Park. 7-9 PM. Free. 660-563-2463, mostateparks .com/park/knob-noster-state-park

IF IT LOOKS LIKE A MAN April 19, Kearney > Speaker Diane Eickhoff speaks on gender identity and the female soldiers and bushwhackers in the Civil War. Jesse James Farm and Museum. 2 PM. Free (farm tours $4.50-$8). 816736-8500, jessejamesmuseum.org

OLD REVOLVER SHOOT OUT

April 24-26, Excelsior Springs > Explore culture and history from the 1920s with music, art, dance, fashion, theater, and educational programs.

Throughout town. Times vary. Free. 816-630-6801, esculturalguild.com

SOCK IT TO ME April 24-26, May 1-3, 7-9, Excelsior Springs > This original music review celebrates the variety shows of the 1960s and 1970s. Victory Lanes Bowling Alley. 7-10 PM. $12. 816-637-3728, esctheatre.org

LEAVE NO TRACE IN THIS PLACE April 25, Knob Noster > Help the park staff spruce up the park, join the litter scavenger hunt, enjoy nature programs, and go trail trekking. Knob Noster State Park. 9 AM-1 PM. Free. 660-563-2463, mostateparks.com/park/knob-noster-state-park

April 21, Kearney > Test your skills on the Frank and Jesse James targets and other skill tests, and win a prize. Western dress is welcomed. Jesse James Farm. 9 AM-5 PM. Free ($25 to participate). 816-7368510, jessejames.org

SHEEP SHEARING

ARBOR DAY

PANCAKES WITH HARRY

April 24, Sedalia > Take the tour, and receive a native tree seedling to take home and plant. Bothwell Lodge State Historic Site. 10 AM-3 PM. Free.

660-827-0510, mostateparks.com/park/bothwell -lodge-state-historic-site

May 9, Independence > Celebrate President Truman’s birthday with a pancake breakfast, and dress your dog up like Harry and Bess for the pet contest.

Independence Square. 9 AM-6 PM. Free. 816-4610065, theindependencesquare.com

May 2, Lee’s Summit > Artisans demonstrate wool making from shearing to dyeing and weaving. Missouri Town 1855. 9 AM-4:30 PM. $3-$5. 816-5034860, jacksongov.org/missouritown

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After a day of cycling, touring or just relaxing, you are sure to love the warm welcome you will receive during your visit. Hannibal’s innkeepers are known for their welcoming hospitality, personal touches, and friendly conversations. Whether looking for a suite with authentic Victorian décor or searching for a room with a “haunted” reputation, you can find it in Hannibal.

For a list of Hannibal lodging options or help planning your springtime getaway, call the Hannibal Convention & Visitors Bureau at 573-221-2477 or go to VisitHannibal.com.

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WINGS OVER WESTON

1 NIGHT, 5 PLANETS, 6 MOONS

May 9, Weston > This festival celebrates birds, butterflies, and the importance of continuous conservation. It also features arts, crafts, guided bird hikes, bird banding, rescued birds, and live music by the Bluegrass Tornadoes. Weston Bend State Park.

9 AM-4 PM Free. 816-640-5443, mostateparks .com/park/weston-bend-state-park

May 23, Knob Noster > See a short program on the night sky and how to use charts. Telescopes will be set up to see the sky sights. Knob Noster State Park.

8:30-10:30 PM. Free. 660-563-2463, mostateparks .com/park/knob-noster-state-park

BONSAI EXHIBIT

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

Celebrate love with The St. Louis Ballet Company as the performers dance to romantic melodies such as George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The ballet will be on April 13 at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville at 7:30 PM. Ticket prices range from $13 to $25.

The dancers twirl and sway in evening dresses and tuxedos. Call 660-562-1226 for tickets or visit nwmissouri.edu/campusactivities/encore .htm for more information.

May 9-10, Kingsville > View an exhibit of bonsai, and learn all about the fascinating art form during a question-and-answer session with experts each day. Powell Gardens. 10 AM-4 PM Sat.; 9 AM-6 PM Sun. $4-$10. 816-697-2600, powellgardens.org

CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE May 16, Kansas City > Jaguar, Austin Healy, RollsRoyce, MGA, and Triumph owners from across the region display their cars and have them judged in many classes. Crown Center Square. 9 AM-3:30 PM. Free. 816-274-8444, crowncenter.com

WREATH CEREMONY May 16, Sedalia > Ceremony honors 2nd Lt. George Whiteman for whom Whiteman Air Force Base was named. Memorial Park Cemetery. 11 AM-noon. Free.

660-826-2222, sedaliachamber.com

LIVING HISTORY FARM May 23-Aug. 9, Lawson > On weekends, costumed staff demonstrate life in rural Missouri in the 1870s. Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site.

10 AM-4 PM. Free. 816-580-3387, mostateparks .com/park/watkins-woolen-mill-state-historic-site

NORTHWEST EASTER EGG HUNT April 4, Cameron > Nature displays and hunt for 1,000 candy- and toy-filled eggs. Wallace State Park. Noon-3 PM. Free. 816-632-3745, mostateparks.com/park/wallace-state-park

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE April 10-12, St. Joseph > Tennessee Williams’s classic play. Missouri Theatre. 7:30 PM Fri.-Sat.; 2 PM Sun. $10-$30. 816-232-1778, rrtstjoe.org

Photo courtesy of Hugh Doyle

April 27 & 28 on

Celebrating 35 Years

Vietnam Special The Day the 60s Died April 27 8 p.m.

Dick Cavett’s Vietnam April 27 9 p.m.

The Draft April 28 7 p.m.

Last Days in Vietnam April 28 8 p.m.

The story of a group of unlikely heroes during the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War.

PBS programming and more for 1 million viewers in 37 central Missouri counties.

kmos.org

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ROUND BARN BLUES May 2, Kirksville > Blues musicians from across the country perform in the historic barn. Round Barn.

3-11 PM. $20. 660-665-2760, roundbarnblues.com

PLEIN AIR WORKSHOP May 30, Kirksville > Jen Wiggs presents a lesson and demonstration, and she assists participants in creating their own masterpiece. Jackson Stables.

9 AM-5 PM. $75. 660-665-0500, kirksvillearts.com

ST. LOUIS

BUTCHWAX & THE HOLLYWOODS April 11, Cuba > Oldies, Motown and ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s songs. Knights of Columbus Hall. 8-11 PM. $25. 573-205-6777, cubachamber.com

MAIN STREET BBQ AND BLUESFEST

GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN

IN THE MOOD April 19, St. Joseph > This musical tribute to Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, The Andrew Sisters, and the big band greats of the 1940s is a salute to the boogie-woogie era of music with a performance by a 13-piece big band and 6 costumed singer-dancers. Missouri Theatre. 3-5 PM. $7-$47. 816-279-1225, saintjosephperformingarts.org

APPLE BLOSSOM PARADE May 1-2, St. Joseph > Get into the spirit of spring with a Grand parade, Kansas City BBQ Societysanctioned contest, live music, and children’s activities. Downtown and Civic Center Park. 6-11 PM Fri.; noon-6 PM Sat. Free (barbecue samples $5).

816-233-6688. stjomo.com

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO May 1-17, St. Joseph > Musical dinner theater set in the 1960s. Robidoux Landing Playhouse. 6:30 PM dinner; 7:30 PM show Fri.-Sat.; 12:30 PM dinner; 2 PM show Sun. $15-$35. 816-232-1778, rrtstjoe.org

NORTHEAST US ARMY 399TH QUARTET April 1, Kirksville > Guest artist recital with the 399th Army Band Saxophone Quartet. Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall. 8-9:30 PM. Free. 660785-4447, truman.edu/events

DYNAMIC DESIGN WORKSHOP

April 11, St. Louis > Kay Love performs a cabaret show focusing on female singer-songwriters. The Gaslight Theater. 8 PM. $30. 314-725-4200, ext. 10, gaslightcabaretfestival.com

STATE OF DECEPTION April 11-Sept. 7, St. Louis > Traveling exhibit from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum features artifacts depicting the power of Nazi propaganda. Missouri History Museum. 10 AM-5 PM Wed.-Mon.; 10 AM-8 PM Tues. Free. 314-746-4599, mohistory.org

TRASH BASH April 18, Leasburg > Help the staff clean up the litter along the roadway and in the park. Enjoy a free lunch. Onondaga Cave State Park. 10 AMnoon. Free. 573-245-6576, mostateparks.com/park /onondaga-cave-state-park

ARTS AND CRAFT

April 4, Kirksville > Learn about design elements, positive and negative shapes, color theory, and more through games, discussion, and creation. Kirksville Arts Center. 9 AM-4 PM. $65.

660-665-0500, kirksvillearts.com

April 18, O’Fallon > Fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity with food trucks, craft beer, recycled art, craft beer-brewing demonstration, and live music by Butchwax and the Hollywoods. Civic Park.

4-8 PM. Free ($2 entry to beer garden). 636-9785712, stcharlesrestore.org/arts--craft.html

MEXICAN & BRAZILIAN DANCE

MAKERS BALL

April 10, Moberly > Grupo Axé Capoeira and El Grupo Folklorico Atotonilco perform a dance concert. Moberly Area Community College Auditorium.

7 PM. $3-$10. 660-263-6070, moberly.com

April 18, St. Louis > Annual fundraising gala with live and silent auctions, seated dinner, and open bar. The Palladium. 6-11 PM. $250-$500. 314-7251177, ext. 333, craftalliance.org

WOMAN’S WELLNESS FAIR

BASKET WEAVING CLASS

April 21, Moberly > Free educational fair with a variety of booths. Dinner, meet-and-greet, and program by Olympic Gold Medalist Shannon Miller.

Moberly Area Community College Activity Center.

Fair 3-5:30 PM ; dinner 6 PM; program 7 PM. $5-$25.

660-263-6070, moberly.com

April 18 and May 2, St. Charles > Materials are supplied for you to create your own hand-crafted basket to take home. First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site. 11 AM-4 PM. Reservations. $35. 636-9403322, mostateparks.com/park/first-missouri-statecapitol-state-historic-site

NATIONAL KIDS TO PARKS DAY May 16, Trenton > Family fun trail run/walk, Native American educational presentation by Mike George at the Remington Nature Center, various outdoor games, activities, and free hot dogs for the first 100 participants. Crowder State Park. 10 AM1 PM. Free. 660-359-6473, mostateparks.com/park /crowder-state-park

COURTESY OF ERIK SPENCE AND ST. LOUIS BALLET, PETER WOCHNIAK

From April 17 through April 19 on Main Street in Washington, Missouri, there will be a motorcycle rally, vintage market, hours of live blues music, and food and drink vendors. Barbecue teams will compete on Friday and Saturday in the seventh annual competition sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society. There will be fifty teams competing for the title of Grand Champion. The event is open from 4 to 10 PM on Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM on Saturday, and 11 AM to 4 PM on Sunday. The barbecue tasting will be open to the public from 2 to 4 PM on Saturday and is only $7. This street festival is free and family-friendly. Call 636-239-7575 or visit downtownwashno.org for more information.

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NIGHT IN THE WILD April 18-19, St. Louis > Enjoy the sights and sounds of the park on this overnight campout. Brush up on your canoeing, forestry, and hiking skills. Lone Elk Park. Check in at visitor’s center between 2-3 PM and check-out time is 10 AM. $12. 314-6158472, stlouisco.com/parks

AN EVENING WITH DAVID SEDARIS April 21, St. Louis > Humorous recollections and readings will deliver insights and laughs. Peabody Opera House. 7:30 PM. $40-$55. 800-745-3000, peabodyoperahouse.com

SUNSET ON THE RIVERFRONT April 23, Washington > Live music on the banks of the Missouri River with food and drink available to purchase. Rennick Riverfront Park. 5-8 PM. Free.

636-239-7575, downtownwashmo.org

PLEIN AIR ART FESTIVAL April 23-May 3, Augusta > Watch artists paint local landscapes and attractions. Art will be available for purchase. Throughout area. Times vary.

Free. 636-228-4005, augustapleinair.com

WORLD WAR II CANTEEN DANCE April 25, St. Louis > Big band dance with Michael Lacy and his New Orleans Swing Band with a catered meal, drinks, and snacks available.

Jefferson Barracks Pavilion. 5 PM doors; 7-10:30 PM music. $17.50-$25 (meal $9-$12). 314-544-5714, stlouisco.com/parks

CATHEDRAL CAVE NIGHT TOUR April 25 and May 23-24 and 30, Leasburg > Bring a flashlight for a 1/3-mile hike up the trail to tour the cave at night. Onondaga Cave State Park (meet at the woodlot next to host site 66 in the campground). 9:15-11 PM. $10. Reservations. 573-2456576. onondagafriends.org

GOLF TOURNAMENT April 27, Weldon Spring > This golf tournament includes competitions, lunch, dinner, and silent and live auctions. Persimmon Woods Golf Club. 10:30 AM-6:30 PM. $760 team of four. 636-532-3399, chesterfieldmochamber.com/25th-annual-golf -tournament

COURTESY OF DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON, INC.

SCAVENGE THROUGH THE NIGHT May 1, St. Louis > This adults-only, BYOB scavenger hunt makes art an adventure. After the hunt, enjoy lemonade and dessert while prizes are awarded.

Laumeier Sculpture Park west entrance. 7 PM. $10.

314-615-4386, stlouisco.com

TWAIN ON MAIN

This festival honors Hannibal’s hometown hero, Mark Twain, and his literary works, including his books, short stories, and humorous takes on life. The event is held Memorial Day weekend (May 23-24 this year) on Main Street from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday and from 10 AM to 4 PM on Sunday. There is no admission fee. The streets are filled with musicians, Celtic bands, magicians, arts, crafts, Tom and Becky reenactors, and a large number of food vendors. Visit with Hannibal’s Mark Twain character actor; shake hands with Shoo-Less Joe, the Hannibal cave mascot; and take a tour of Mark Twain’s boyhood home. Call 573-470-3492 or visit twainonmain.com for more information.

MARKET ON MAIN

RENAISSANCE FAIRE

May 2, Union > More than 20 booths with a variety of items including jewelry, produce, gift items, and clothing. Historic Downtown Main Street around the town square. 10 AM-5 PM. Free. 636-583-8979, unionchamber.org

May 16-June 14, Wentzville > Each weekend has a different theme as you travel back in time to a 16th century French village and enjoy armored jousting, five stages of entertainment, magic shows, 100 local artisan shops, and food and drink from across the world. Rotary Park. 10 AM-6 PM. $7.50-$49.95.

800-373-0357, stlrenfest.com

TEA WITH NANCY May 2-3, Chesterfield > Enjoy a tea party reenactment with the wife of Missouri’s second governor and her daughters, and learn about proper dress and etiquette of the 1800s. Thornhill at Faust Park. 11 AM-1 PM and 2-4 PM Sat.; 11 AM-1 PM Sun. Reservations. $30. 314-615-8336, stlouisco.com /ParksandRecreation/ParkPages/Faust

ART FAIR May 8-10, St. Louis > Nationally acclaimed fine arts and crafts fair with works created by 150 artists from across the country, hands-on children’s art activities, music, entertainment, and food and drink from a variety of vendors. Laumeier Sculpture Park. 6-10 PM Fri.; 10 AM-8 PM Sat.; 10 AM-5 PM Sun. $5-$10. 314-615-5276, laumeiersculpturepark.org

LA FETE A RENAULT

THE LITTLE MERMAID JR. May 1-3, Maryland Heights > Fairy tale with musical numbers and a plot full of mystery and adventure. Community Center. 7:30PM Fri.-Sat.; 2 PM Sun. $5-$10. 314-738-2599, marylandheights.com

May 16-17, Old Mines > This living history event features muzzleloaders, archery shooting, period demonstrations, and local musicians. St. Joachim Church grounds. 9 AM-6 PM Sat.; 9 AM-4 PM Sun. Free. 573-210-7599, talking-bear.com

BIKING THROUGH TIME May 17, St. Louis > Take a historian-guided, 7-mile bike tour of historic buildings and interpretative panels on the old military post. Complete the ride, and receive an Ordnance patch. Jefferson Barracks.

9 AM-1 PM. $5. Advanced registration required. 314544-5714, stlouisco.com/parks

FARM FRIDAY May 22, St. Louis > Kids ages 2 to 12 can enjoy a day on the farm with pony rides, hayrides, barn tours, face painting, fishing, candle making, and peddle cars. Plus, play in the corn and soybean bin with farm implements, and enjoy the playground.

Suson Park. 10 AM-1 PM. $10 (adults free with a child’s ticket). 314-615-8822, stlouisco.com/parks

MISSOURI RIVER IRISHFEST May 22-24, St. Charles > Celebrate Irish culture, music, dance, and food. Frontier Park. 5-10:30 PM Fri.; 9 AM-10:30 PM Sat.; 10 AM-5 PM Sun. Free. 800366-2427, moriveririshfest.com

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RIBFEST May 22-25, St. Charles > Barbecue competition, samples, and a variety of live music. New Town. 5-11 PM Fri.; 11 AM-11 PM Sat.; 11 AM-7 PM Sun. Free. 314312-6308, historicstcharles.com

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL May 22-June 14, St. Louis > Performance of Antony and Cleopatra with pre-show festivities and a craft area for families. Shakespeare Glen at Forest Park. 6:30 PM (show at 8 PM) daily except Tues. Free.

314-531-9800, sfstl.com/in-the-park

FLINTKNAPPING DEMOS May 23, Leasburg > Learn to make arrowheads and tools. Onondaga Cave State Park visitor center. 10 AM-4 PM. Free. 573-245-6576, mostateparks .com/park/onondaga-cave-state-park

GYPSY CARAVAN

COURTESY OF MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

May 25, St. Charles > Check out one of the Midwest’s largest antique, craft, and flea markets with hundreds of indoor and outdoor vendors. Proceeds benefit the St. Louis Symphony education programs. The Family Arena. 9 AM-5 PM. $10 (early bird 7-9 PM for $20). 314536-8903, stlsymphony.org/gypsycaravan

SOUTHEAST EASTER EGG HUNT April 4, New Madrid > Children ages 2 to 11 can bring their own basket and hunt for more than 1,500 treat-filled Easter eggs. Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site. 11 AM. Free. 573-748-5340, mostateparks .com/park/hunter-dawson-state-historic-site

KELLY MILLER CIRCUS April 7, New Madrid > Come see acrobats, clowns, elephants, and fire breathers. Hunter-Dawson Park.

4:30 and 7:30 PM shows. $16-$6. 573-748-5300. kellymillercircus.com

SAVE THE BLUEBELLS

The Virginia bluebells that carpet the ground at St. Francois State Park at Bonne Terre are in danger.

Garlic mustard, an invasive species, has moved into the area. Last year, volunteers pulled more than 500 pounds of this alien plant, but more needs to be done. Join park staff to help defeat this invading plant. Volunteers should bring gloves. Trash bags will be provided. Each helper will receive a certificate and a special snack made with garlic mustard. When you arrive at the park, meet at the amphitheater, and the park staff will lead you to the site. This is a free activity, and all ages are welcome. Call 573-3582173 or visit mostateparks.com/event/62152/save-bluebells for more information.

UNION ARMY SPRING DRILL April 11, Pilot Knob > The Turner Brigade demonstrates the Union Army’s infantry and artillery drills and civilian camp. Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site. 9 AM-5 PM. Free. 573-546-3454, mostateparks .com/park/battle-pilot-knob-state-historic-site

COMIC CON April 17-19, Cape Girardeau > Come in costume, and celebrate comics with professional comic book artists, publishers, gaming tournaments, a juried art show, and more than 100 tables of comics and merchandise. Osage Centre. Call for times. $15-$25.

573-335-1631, cape-con.com

ECOLE DE SOLDAT April 25-26, Ste. Genevieve > Living history events with an auction, information on the School of the Soldier, and lectures. Jour de Fete Grounds and Creole House Properties. 9 AM-5 PM Sat.; 9 AM-noon Sun. Free. 800-373-7007, visitstegen.com

WILDHEART CONCERT May 1, Cape Girardeau > Bring a blanket or lawn chair and go on a musical journey with deep roots in nature featuring original music. Conservation Nature Center. 7-8 PM. Free. 573-290-5218, mdc.mo.gov/regions/southeast/capegirardeau -conservation-nature-center

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Directory of our Advertisers Connect with us online! www.MissouriLife.com www.facebook.com/MissouriLife Twitter: @MissouriLife

Missouri Life Outdoor Guide, O U TD O O RS pgs. 97-111 Arkansas Ozark Gateway Region, p. 108 Bed & Breakfast Inns of Missouri, p. 110 Benton County Tourism, p. 111 Boonville Tourism, p. 105 Daniel Boone Historic Home and Heritage Center, p. 108 Ellington Chamber of Commerce, p. 107 Mexico, MO Tourism, p. 99 Missouri Life Field Trip app, p. 108 Missouri Life products, p. 110 Missouri Division of Tourism, pgs. 100-103

2015

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, p. 129 Arkansas Parks and Tourism, pgs. 20-21 Arrow Rock, p. 138 Art in Connection, p. 36 Branson CVB, p. 7 Branson Visitor TV, p. 11 Bucksnort Trading Company, p. 138 Callaway County Tourism, pgs. 30-31 Cape Girardeau CVB, p. 10 City of Pauls Valley, p. 115 Columbia Art League, p. 35 Columbia Orthopaedic Group, p. 131 Crow Steals Fire, p. 36 Eureka Springs, AR, p. 113 Fayetteville, AR, p. 142 Gilcrease Museum, p. 115 Gladstone, p. 139 Hannibal, p. 136 Hardware of the Past, p. 36 Heimsoth Fine Art, p. 34 Hermann Hill Vineyard & Inn, p. 148 Hermann Wurst Haus, p. 127 Isle of Capri, p. 3 J R Wood Signs, p. 36 James Country Mercantile, p. 127 Jameson Medical, p. 131 Jefferson City CVB, p. 17 John Knox Village East, p. 131 KCPT, p. 19 KMOS, pgs. 132 & 137 Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce, p. 113 Lebanon, MO Tourism, p. 17 Lexington, MO Tourism, p. 138

Liberty Arts Squared, p. 34 Lodge of Four Seasons, p. 4 Lyceum Theatre, p. 37 Manhattan, KS CVB, p. 142 Maples Repertory Theatre, p. 34 Mark Twain Cave Complex, p. 136 Marshall Tourism, pgs. 8-9 Maryland Heights CVB, p. 15 Miami, OK CVB, p. 114 Mid-MO Health Expo, p. 130 Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, p. 23 Missouri Life books, p. 25 Missouri Life gift baskets, p. 139 Missouri Life subscription offer, p. 142 Missouri Life travel, p. 116 Missouri Pork Association, p. 2 Missouri Propane Gas Association, pgs. 12-13 Moberly Area CVB, p. 132 Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department, p. 114 Old Trails Region, p. 138 The Railyard Steakhouse, p. 127 Saleigh Mountain Co., p. 36 Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, p. 15 Socket, p. 27 Spiva Center for the Arts, p. 34 Ste. Genevieve, MO, p. 143 Stone Hollow Studio, p. 36 Sydenstricker, p. 147 Truman State University Press, p. 25 University of Missouri Press, p. 25 Vintage Hill, p. 138 Waverly House, p. 36 Wentworth Military Academy & College, p. 136 Westphalia Vineyards, p. 127 Wildwood Springs Lodge, p. 29

Whether it’s

HEART-PUMP ING THRILL OR QUIET TRANQUILITY, Missouri outdoors checks all the boxes.

Something for everyone, and many outdoor excursions can offer both EXCITEMENT AND RELAXATION at the same destination.

Photo by Mike Kellner

[97] April 2015

Pointe Royale Golf Village, p. 104 Rock Eddy Bluff Farm, p. 110 Scott Joplin Foundation, p. 106 Sedalia CVB, p. 106 Show Me Ziplines, p. 110 Table Rock Lake Chamber of Commerce, p. 109 Nightlife & Entertainment Guide, pgs. 48-53 Big BAM concerts, p. 52 Carthage CVB, p. 49 2015 Greater Chillicothe Visitor’s Region, p. 51 Hermann Tourism, p. 53 Kirksville Tourism, p. 53 Marshall Cultural Council, p. 53 Pulaski County, p. 51 Rolla Area Chamber of Commerce, p. 52 Springfield CVB, p. 50 St. Charles CVB, p. 51 St. Joseph CVB, p. 50 Stone Hill Winery, p. 52 Washington Area Chamber of Commerce, p. 49

Night

LIFE [48] MissouriLife

Big BAM, pgs. 69-87 Albany, MO, p. 84 Bicycle Times, p. 86 Big BAM products, p. 87 Centerstone Inn, p. 83 Culver Stockton College, p. 83 Kirksville Comfort Inn, p. 83 Lied Lodge, p. 86 Maryville Comfort Inn, p. 87 Missouri Army National Guard, p. 85 Pedaler’s Jamboree, p. 87 Pony Express Region, p. 86 Rock Port RiversEdge Campground, p. 87 Sedalia CVB, p. 84 STL Biking, p. 84 Truman State University, p. 83 Walt’s Bicycle Shop, p. 84

TOWN GUIDE June 21-June 26

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[69] April 2015

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OFF THE WALL May 1-31, Poplar Bluff > Sculptural vessels by fiber artist Jo Stealey. Margaret Harwell Art Museum Noon-4 PM Tues.-Fri.; 1-4 PM Sat.-Sun. Free. 573686-8002, mham.org

VIETNAM TRAVELING WALL May 6-10, New Madrid > Replica of the Vietnam Memorial. Davis Street Track. Open daily. Free. 573748-5300, avtt.org

SPRING FEVER DAYS May 8-9, Ellington > This street festival features rides, games, crafts, contests, music, a 5K run, and a car and boat show. Main St. 3-10 PM Fri.; 10 AM-9 PM Sat. Free. 573-663-7997, ellingtonmo.com

CHILDREN’S HISTORIC GAMES May 16, Burfordville >Step back in time to play checkers and nine pins. Bollinger Mill State Historic Site. 9-11 AM. Free. 573-243-4591, mostateparks .com/park/bollinger-mill-state-historic-site

MUDPIE MAGIC May 16, Lesterville > Make mud pies, dig in the dirt, explore rotten logs, and catch crawdads. Bring clean clothes for the ride home. Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park. 1-4 PM. Free. 573-546-2450, mostateparks .com/park/johnsons-shut-ins-state-park

MASTER GARDENER’S WALK May 16-17, Ste. Genevieve > Tour of private and public gardens, vendors, art exhibits, and a plant sale. Historic Downtown. 10 AM-4 PM Sat.; 11 AM-4 PM Sun. $7. 800-373-7007, visitstegen.com

SHRINE CIRCUS

The spectacular Shrine Circus is coming to West Plains April 14 and will give deserving children the chance to attend for free. Clowns, magic, and acrobats will fill the Civic Center Arena. A pre-party gives kids the chance to meet the stars up close, and they might even get to ride a pony or an elephant. Two shows begin at 4:30 PM and 7:30 PM, and ticket prices are $18 for adults and $14 for children, but call 417-256-8087 about potential free tickets for children. Or visit civiccenter.com.

SPENCERS: THEATRE OF ILLUSION April 17, Rolla > Fusion of magic, illusion, humor, and mystery. Leach Theatre. 7-9 PM. $15. 573-3414219, leachtheatre.mst.edu

MID AMERICA GOSPEL FESTIVAL 100 MILE YARD SALE May 21-25, Kennett to Jackson > Local communities along Highway 25 set up sales. Communities along Highway 25. Dawn to dusk. Free (except purchases). 888-501-8827, 25yardsale.com

April 24-25, West Plains > Concerts featuring award-winning gospel groups. Civic Center. 7-9 PM Fri.; 6-8 PM Sat. Donations accepted. 417-257-8087, midamericagma.com

MOUNTAIN MAN RENDEZVOUS SPRING CEMETERY WALK May 30, Burfordville >Hike to the Bollinger family cemetery, and learn about the family and 19th century burial traditions. Bollinger Mill State Historic Site. 9-11 AM. Free. 573-243-4591, mostateparks .com/park/bollinger-mill-state-historic-site

COURTESY OF AGENTE ENTERTAINMENT

SOUTH CENTRAL SPRING WILDFLOWER WALK April 4 and 18, Salem > Take a naturalist-guided hike to identify native wildflowers. Montauk State Park. 9-11:30 AM. Free. 573-548-2225, mostateparks.com/park/montauk-state-park

SPORTMAN’S GUN SHOW April 11, Dixon > Trades and deals. The Barn.

11 AM-4 PM. $3. 573-433-9370, bakerband.com

April 25, Dixon > Vendors and trade show, tomahawk throwing, Dutch oven cooking, black powder shooting, fire starting, and blacksmithing demonstrations. Trace Club. 10 AM-4 PM. Free. 636-7342693, pulaskicountyusa.com

PETER AND THE STAR CATCHER May 1, Rolla > A dozen actors play more than 100 characters on a journey to find out how Peter Pan became the boy who never grew up. Leach Theatre. 7:30-9:30 PM. $30-$40. 573-341-4219, leachtheatre.mst.edu/

I’VE GOT A TWIST

May 8, Rolla > This cabaret show celebrates Gilbert and Sullivan’s musical theater with a little twist .

Leach Theatre. 7:30-9:30 PM. $20-$25. 573-3414219, leachtheatre.mst.edu

MILL CELEBRATION May 8-9, Salem > Step back in time to experience lost skills, arts, and crafts, including a quilting bee, music, and dance of the Ozarks. Tour the mill. Montauk State Park. 9 AM-4 PM. Free. 573-548-2225, mostateparks.com/park/montaukstate-park

FREE LISTING & MORE EVENTS At MissouriLife.com PLEASE NOTE: TO SUBMIT AN EVENT:

HUMMINGBIRD BANDING May 3, Salem > Join researcher and master bird bander Lanny Chamber as he captures and studies these fascinating flying machines. Montauk State Park at the Dorman L. Steelman Lodge. 9 AM1 PM. Free. 573-548-2225. mostateparks.com/park /montauk-state-park

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Missouriana You can quote Mark Twain in basically any situation.

Did you know this?

BY JONAS WEIR

Director Ang Lee’s 1999 film Ride with the Devil—a movie about the CIVIL WAR, the bushwhackers, and the jayhawkers—was partially shot in PATTONSBURG.

“Ah, that shows you the POWER of music, that magician of magician, who lifts his wand and says his mysterious word and all things real pass away and the PHANTOMS of your mind walk before you clothed in flesh.”

—Mark Twain

“ We are thankful that people are again taking up the time honored art of producing their own foods.”

...and this?

The Silver Dollar City attraction Fire-in-the-Hole is a FAMILYFRIENDLY indoor rollercoaster with a Bald Knobbers theme.

“IF WE WANT TO CHANGE SOMETHING, WE MUST BEGIN WITH UNDERSTANDING. BUT IF WE WANT TO LOVE SOMETHING, WE MUST BEGIN WITH ACCEPTANCE.”

—Jere Gettle of Baker Creek Seed Company

—Eric Greitens

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