Been Thinkin’ About…Words, arts, crafts and tomatoes

"It always comes back to the words," I type on my comfortable old laptop this balmy late-April afternoon as the dogs drape themselves over the furniture, dozing, awaiting their walk. The StateoftheOzarks season hasn't opened, not quite. But the clock is ticking. Five days.

The StateoftheOzarks (formerly Hollister) Farmers Market opens Saturday, May 3, at 10 a.m., now at Vintage Paris Coffee on Historic Highway 165 across from the Branson Scenic Overlook. The move marks a major change for our events, especially seeing how StateoftheOzarks (formerly First Friday) Art Walk Market, opens 3 p.m., Friday, May 16, also at Vintage Paris Coffee.

Farmers Market will open every Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and every Wednesday, 2-6 p.m., weather permitting (May through October). Many of our regular vendors will be there, as well as some new ones.

Writers Artists Night, StateoftheOzarks' biggest little event, will also be at Vintage Paris 6-10 p.m., Saturday, August 9. Right now we are accepting writers and artists for this event, an event for which I pair original written works with regional artists, asking the artists to create "original art inspired in some way by the written word."

The evening is emotional, profound, funny, moving, heartwarming. There are often tears. Writers Artists Night was our first StateoftheOzarks event ever. We started the event on the courtyard at the old downtown Vintage Paris location in September 2015 and have hosted the event yearly since then. Last year we moved back to Vintage Paris, albeit at their new location (across from Branson Scenic Overlook), and the return was magical. That advent precipitated conversations which led to a re-envisioned series of events: Makers Market, Art Walk Market, Farmers Market. The StateoftheOzarks' events calendar is now year ‘round for the first time ever.

"It always comes back to the words." Ideas. Thoughts. The simple profundity of two people engaged in conversation, coupled with attention, with care, the willingness to engage, the willingness to follow through. I am honored by my long-time partnership with StateoftheOzarks' publisher Dale Grubaugh. He has more grit and follow-through than any other man I know. He has worked tirelessly this winter, recovering lost mobility from a stroke on July 6 that would have killed a lesser guy. Saturday, July 6, 2024 is a date now permanently etched in my brain. I am grateful for Dale, and his mentorship. 

"I'm a member, right?" Tracy Kimmel, the general manager of the Olde English Inn and the Black Horse Pub, was asking me. It was 2017 and outside, a cold February sun warmed roof frost, causing water to drip from the historic Inn's gutters onto the Downing Street sidewalk just beyond the big picture window in the lobby where we sat.

"Well, yeah," I replied, not sure where this conversation was headed. 

StateoftheOzarks, the online magazine, was now member-driven rather than advertising-driven, and I was on a mission to build our membership community, advocating for each and every new member with my characteristic and idealistic gusto. "Well, we need a festival," Tracy said matter-of-factly. And she meant it, arranging my meeting with Hollister's city staff five days later. Exactly one week sitting in the old inn’s lobby, Dale and I walked out of City Hall, having been given approval for a certain "StateoftheOzarks" arts and crafts festival, set for mid-September. Truth be told, I had no idea how to build a festival, but we learned, and we learned quickly.

Seven months later I was standing in the hot September sun on Downing Street and Rick Ziegenfuss, Hollister City Administrator, was talking to me. "This doesn't look like a new festival, Josh. This looks like a veteran, 10-year festival. Good job. I expect to see you at council next week to request a special events permit for next year." I was on cloud nine, and not just from relief that no major catastrophes had occurred. For StateoftheOzarks, I had seen a vision unfold — crossing generational boundaries, combining and showcasing Ozarks culture in fun and weird and exciting ways. Only at StateoftheOzarks Fest can you visit with traditional craftsman, contemporary artists, talk history, watch real-live Medieval combat, and be accosted by goblins. It is the kaleidoscopic experience for which I had hoped, one that brings people together over shared engagement rather than driving them further apart in an increasingly polarized society.

StateoftheOzarks Fest '25 is scheduled for 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday, September 13, on Historic Downing Street, Hollister, Missouri. This is our eighth annual festival.

Words, arts, crafts, then tomatoes. This StateoftheOzarks life of mine has been next-to-impossible to predict. I didn't know I was going to become a festival builder. But there was a need and I had a vision. I didn't know I would become co-manager of a farmers market, but there was a need. Years ago, as a graphic designer teaching at a college in central Illinois, I could not have imagined my life revolving around tomatoes, or goblins, or traditional craftsmanship, or contemporary art. And yet, here we are, opening yet another season, bolstered by a beautiful community, supported by a growing number of StateoftheOzarks members whose talents and works I am humbled to share with you all.

Taking the responsibility to craft one's own career is sobering. If something happens I really don't like, I often have only myself to blame. Theoretical planning is meaningless, living so close to the outcomes. If one of my ideas fail, I know it right away. People simply don't buy into the failures. Living so close to the edge can be terrifying but I love the honesty therein. And when things are said and done, I cannot say life happened to me because I was there, on the ground, behind the wheel, intentionally charting every strange new course, creating, crafting and experiencing, with purpose. 

It always comes back to the words.