The site of the Fair covered 1,200 acres, with many of the structures being dismantled at the conclusion of the event. A few structures did remain, such as the Palace of Fine Arts building. Today, this structure is the St. Louis Art Museum.

 I was blown away at the folks who attend this event every year, but the fans were shocked when we told them that in 41 years, this was the first Poetry Gathering appearance for the legendary Sons of the Pioneers. 

Well, that big rodeo that Stan mentions is still going strong here in Prescott. This summer, the Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo celebrates its 138th year. The first one was July 4, 1888. They didn't call it a "rodeo" back then. They called it a "Cowboy Tournament."  

The photos I'm sharing here today were by Cramer Photo of Branson, who documented a lot of the early Lake Taneycomo photography and Powersite Dam after its completion in 1913.

Built by the Canton Bridge Company out of Canton, Ohio, the Turkey Creek bridge was a pin-connected Pratt through truss bridge, a very familiar type of construction and it's quite impressive

 Earl Scruggs took a three-finger style approach to picking using his thumb, index and middle finger, in a forward rolling rapid pattern. This style is what turned the banjo from a rhythm instrument to a lead instrument.

     So where does the "Table Rock" name come from? Well, go upstream a few miles above Branson and there's a turn in the river, a large bluff that features a rock formation that was recognized as being as flat as a table top. 

Paperback booklets which featured this technique were handed out to all participants. Today these are quite rare, but show up occasionally online. 

   J.K. Ross, the Garber correspondent for the Taney County Republican newspaper, had this to say on December 3, 1906, regarding the November 29 event. This is just beautiful. 

Showing dozens of rare photos, many by photographer George Hall from the years 1908 through 1915, Sypult went into deep discussion showing rare photography of the railway in Branson and took everyone on a photographic look of the thirty miles between Branson and Crane.

Alfred Alexander was born in 1898 in Jackson County, Missouri, to Thomas and Mary Patterson Alexander. 

Carolina was born Helen Hagstrom in Cash, Arkansas, October 20, 1925. Her parents, Fred and Helen were peanut and cotton farmers.

Kay stated that what he had just said would be a good title for a new song, so he sat on the edge of the bed and wrote the verse and melody. 

It just so happens that today would have been Marty's 100th birthday, born on September 26, 1925.

Honestly at that very moment, everything froze. I slightly choked up and still managed to give him my answer, "absolutely, Sir," I stated. 

In late 2010 going into 2011 we started taking the Roy Rogers Jr. and the High Riders performances out on the road for occasional dates. There were several that were an absolute hoot.

In November 1994, I got to see Tommy onstage for the first time since 1988, and we traveled a long way to catch him and all the SOP...

he Sons of the Pioneers were scheduled for nightly performances, September 17 to October 19, 1984. The crowds were beyond what anyone could have imagined, and Ken asked the group to perform through the end of October.