Children’s Activities

Children’s Activity Area

Boys and Girls Club – West Plains staff will host children’s activities, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The activities this year will be on East Main, across from the Old Post Office building. Organizers promise string tricks, sifting for arrowheads, Cornhole, jump rope, a chalk floor maze, Hula hoops, and a large wooden Jenga…..and more!

Boys and Girls Club manages clubs in both West Plains & Thayer. The furnish activities, meals & programs for kids ages 5-17 years old. It is a non-profit whose goal is to help all kids, regardless of socioeconomic status, develop the skills they need to build great futures. More information on the website http:// bgcwp.com or phone 417-204-2582.

Bucket Brigade

Chief Joe Auffert and friends from the Howell Rural Fire Department will once again provide fun and excitement at the Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival for all who wish to participate. Young competitors are the focus of this event, but all ages are welcome!

Bucket Brigade competitions will take place at the “fire house” which will be placed on East Main near the Children’s Activities area.  Events are scheduled for 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

A bucket brigade is a method for transporting items passed from one stationary person to the next. The method was important in firefighting before the advent of hand pumped fire engines, whereby firefighters would pass buckets to each other to extinguish a blaze. This technique is still common where using machines to move water, supplies, or other items would be impractical.

Come join in what is probably the wettest event at the Festival! Form a team and compete with your friends!

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.

2024 Festival partners include the West Plains Council on the Arts, the City of West Plains, the Ozark Heritage Welcome Center, West Plains Civic Center, Missouri Humanities, and Missouri State University-West Plains.  Partial funding for this event is provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

For more information on the festival email info@westplainsarts.org, visit the website at http://www.oldtimemusic​.​org, or “like” the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Old.Time.Music.Festival