The Old Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival will celebrate Missouri culture Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3. The annual event in downtown West Plains, Mo., celebrates Ozarks music and culture. Admission to all festival events is free. Festival hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. each day, with music scheduled to begin at noon.
Old-time cooking – the stories, recipes, and dishes will be featured both days at this year’s What’s Cookin’ Stage at the Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival, along with a healthy dose of Dutch Oven cooking. This is the 18th year for the Cooking Stage. Aid’s Downtown Antiques are again sponsoring this event. This Friday’s theme is “Church Potluck”, and Saturday will feature “Dutch Oven Cooking.”
Attendees will find activities at the Cooking Stage (in the Brush Arbor on St. Louis St.) from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday. Demonstrations will include classic church potluck dishes, squirrel and dumplings, venison chili, and apple and blackberry cobblers…. All with samples offered at the end of the demos. And special pie competition samples will be offered on Saturday!
Saturday’s session will kick off with the 5th Annual Pie Competition. This year there will be a youth division and prize money! The youth division is open for any pie made by children 15 years old and younger. Thanks to our generous sponsor, prize money in the amounts of $30, $20, and $10 will be awarded to 1st through 3rd place youth bakers. The 1st place winner will also receive an inscribed pie plate.
The adult division will include three categories:
• fruit pies, such as apple, cherry, banana cream, key lime
• other dessert pies, such as pecan, peanut butter, chocolate, shoofly
• and savory pie, such as spinach, tomato, quiche.
Prize money in the amounts of $50, $30, and $20 will be awarded for 1st through 3rd places in each category along with an inscribed pie plate for 1st place winners. The grand prize baker will receive $100 and an inscribed pie plate!
To enter, bring your pie to the Redbud Room at the West Plains Civic Center on Saturday June 3 between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. Judging by a select group of experts begins shortly after, with awards announced (and samples offered) at the Cooking Stage at 12:45. PLEASE BE PRESENT FOR THE AWARDS!
Pies should be prepared “from scratch.” Homemade crust is preferred. Pies should be brought in non-returnable tins.
The Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival is the signature event for West Plains. The festival seeks to celebrate, preserve, pass on and nurture an appreciation of the old-time music and folk life traditions distinctive to the Ozark Highlands.
2023 Festival partners include the West Plains Council on the Arts, the City of West Plains, the Ozark Heritage Welcome Center, West Plains Civic Center, and Missouri State University-West Plains. Partial funding for this event is provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. Additional support has been provided by Missouri Humanities and Missouri Department of Tourism.
For more information on the festival e-mail info@westplainsarts.org, visit the website at https://www.oldtimemusic.org, or “like” the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Old.Time.Music.Festival
