The Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival in downtown West Plains, Mo., will celebrate its 30th year June 7 and 8, 2024. 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. Admission to all festival events is free.
The Old-Time Music Festival will have docent narrators out on the Downtown Square from 11 AM to 2 PM each day of the festival, June 7th and 8th. These docent narrators will be young people from the Fine Arts Academy, and they will be telling the story of notable buildings and locations on the Square. These buildings and locations will include the Historic Post Office, the courthouse and monuments, the Aid Hardware Building, and the historic Opera House. The docent narrators will be stationary and will be able to point people to the next location of interest. People can feel free to start at any one of the docent stations and work their way around the square in any direction. The docent narrators will be identifiable by lanyards with badges.
Come listen as they share stories from the past! Here’s a map. Copies will also be available at the information booths, or you can check it out online!
Locations include:
Town Spring and Post Office
Arcade Hotel, Josiah Howell’s Grave
Bond Dance Hall Explosion
West Plains Bank
Court House and Historic Monuments
Catron Opera House
Aid Hardware / Antique Mall
Haywagon Tour
New this year will be a hayride addition to the history tour. Courtesy of Mark Collins, and with commentary from Cody Sanders, the wagon will tour through downtown and Oak Lawn cemetery, pointing out historical places and details about events. Look for the wagon on the southwest corner of Court Square. The wagon tours will run 11AM-3PM both days.
The Full West Plains Story Tour is available at https://youtu.be/nGCLXU6suqk
