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!

Here’s a copy of the Friday schedule:

Saturday’s session will kick off with the 4th 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.

From Representative David Evans: “Since its founding, the Music Festival has always been an event that the Evans family has cherished. Each year, we visit the booths, listen to the music, and eat pie at the cooking stage. We are blessed to have so many people, like Kathleen Morrissey and Paula Speraneo, that help keep it growing each year. It’s great to be able to support the festival, and we are hoping that by increasing the prize money for the pie baking contest it will build even more support and reap even greater lifetime memories. The Festival is certainly one of the funnest things each year in our area, and the pie is great.”