PARTICIPANTS SOUGHT FOR MULE JUMP AND THUMBPICKING GUITARISTS’ ROUNDTABLE DURING OLD-TIME MUSIC, OZARK HERITAGE FESTIVAL
     The West Plains Council on the Arts cordially invites all mule jumpers and thumbpickers to participate in the 15th annual Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival, June 19-20 in West Plains. 
     The event will feature the second annual Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival Mule Jump Competition, sponsored by Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply.  The competition will take place in front of the Senior Citizens’ Center (immediately south of the Civic Center) at 3 PM on Saturday, June 20. 
     Prizes of $100 (first place), $75 (second place), and $50 (third place) will be awarded in each of two classes based on the mules’ heights: up to 52 inches, and taller than 52 inches.  Standard Missouri rules will apply.  Water and ample space for trailers will be available.  Richie Dement of Centerville will coordinate the event again this year. 
     Pre-registration is strongly recommended but not required.  Contestants who wish to pre-register may contact Matt Meacham, folklorist with the West Plains Council on the Arts, at 372-3177 or matthewmeacham@missouristate.edu.  Those who do not pre-register must register onsite by no later than 2 PM on Saturday, June 20. 
     “The audience for our first festival mule jump last year was very large and enthusiastic, but the number of competitors was rather modest,” Meacham explained.  “We’re hoping to have many more contestants this year so that the contestants will be able to look at a wider variety of mules and witness a keener competition.” 
     This year’s Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival will also include a thumbpicking guitarists’ roundtable featuring Moon Mullins, who will be performing on the Friday evening of the festival before the Hillman and Pedersen performance.  The roundtable is tentatively scheduled for late afternoon on Saturday, specific time to be announced. 
     The thumbpicking guitarists’ roundtable will be a participatory music-making event similar to the fiddlers’ frolic that takes place during the festival each year.  All guitarists who play using a technique known as thumbpicking, made famous by such guitarists as Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, and Jerry Reed, will be welcome to participate. 
     Thumbpickers will be able to trade tunes and techniques with one another and with Mullins, a multiple-award-winning guitarist in the thumbpicking style associated with Merle Travis.  Pre-registration is not required, but those who wish to participate or would like more information are strongly encouraged to contact Matt Meacham at the phone number or e-mail address given above. 
     “I’ve been very impressed with the number of fine thumbpicking guitarists who live in this part of the Ozarks, and we’re eager to welcome them to what promises to be an exciting participatory musical event,” Meacham remarked. 
     “So, if you’re a mule jumper or a thumbpicker – or both – make your plans to attend the 15th annual Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival,” Meacham said.  “If you can thumbpick your guitar while guiding your mule to jump, we’ll all be mightily impressed.  And if your *mule* can thumbpick a guitar while jumping, by golly, that’ll really put us on the map!”