MOL Before and After FlipBook V

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Find Fourteen Famous Trees

Meet 4 Hometown Heroes

Town Names That Tell a Story

BEFORE 104 Events and Festivals

A Diver Finds What Was Lost in the Lake

Take a Moonlit Float Trip

July/August 2026

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WAR BATTLE At Fort San Carlos

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In The State

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From Addiction to Ultramarathons

According to our readers p24

March/April 2026

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Honky Tonks and the Hardwood Highway

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Spin, sip, and sing your way through the heartland.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Department AFTER

BEFORE

Table of F E AT U R E S

30

TA B L E O F

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JuLY/August 2026

Contents

Septe m b er 2 0 2 6

The Battle of St. Louis The westernmost battle of the Revolutionary War helped determine control of the Mississippi River and Valley.

36

46

4th of July Festivals Find the right Independence Day celebration for you among the 13 we’ve highlighted around the state, along with 61 more on our website.

D E PA R T M E N T S

COLUMNS

10

8

Recovery Diver

12

40

A Lake of the Ozarks diver has PDGH D EXVLQHVV RI ࡼQGLQJ what people have lost, from phones to dentures to rings.

46

16

Mark the 100th birthday of Route 66 with a visit to Sweet Sams at Waynesville.

50

52

Explore

Meet the 22 Liberty Sisters and OHDUQ ZKHUH \RX FDQ ࡼQG WKHP

54

Fort San Carlos appears in the book, The American Revolutionary War in the West. The tower helped win the Battle of St. Louis.

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Fort San Carlos Tower by Mitchell Nolte, Courtesy of THGC Publishing

REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLE

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56

26 Books

Explore the murder of a 6SULQJࡼHOG ERRN FROOHFWRU DQG attorney, and discover the Revolutionary War heroes who shaped our state.

Our Cover

Take a Moonlit Float Trip

July/August 2026

B I G M U D DY A DV E N T U R E S

Discover

Cafe B-29 in Ozark displays photographs of veterans.

Moonlight Paddle

A Diver Finds What You Lost

Readers share concerns, praise a new columnist, and comment on a special hymn.

20 Dining

Tag along on a nighttime canoe trip on the Missouri River.

Discover the pleasure of a threecourse meal beside the river.

104 Events and Festivals

Letters

58

14

18

66 Q&A

Meet a New Haven artist who paints patriotic murals.

Our publisher Evan Allen Wood describes a romantic day.

The Adventurous Life

Matt Crossman learns about the joy and sorrow of eagle watching.

Forgotten Lore

Ron Soodalter tells about the supposedly vicious “Ma” Barker.

24

Pour Decisions

Doug Frost shares Missouri wines WKDW ࡼW WKH WUHQG RI FKLOOHG UHGV

No Place Like Home

Lorry Myers reprimands her seemingly lazy left hand.

WITH HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS

Event Calendar

Find your fun at 91 events all around Missouri.

My Missouri Life

22

MISSOURI LIFE, Vol. 53, No. 6, 2026 (USPS#020181; ISSN#1525-0814) Published eight times per year in January, March, May, June, July, September, October, and November by Missouri Life Inc., PO Box 57, 208 Columbia Street, Rocheport, MO 65279 for $21.99. February (No. 2) this year was a bonus. Periodicals 3RVWDJH SDLG DW 5RFKHSRUW 02 DQG DGGLWLRQDO PDLOLQJ RࡺFHV 32670$67(5 6HQG DGGUHVV FKDQJHV WR 0LVVRXUL /LIH 32 %R[ 5RFKHSRUW 02

Stay Inn

%UDQVRQ )DPLO\ 5HWUHDWV RಀHUV rentals for single families up to large groups of 50 or more.

F E AT U R E S

24 34 38

Beef 101

A producer at a farmers market answers customers’ questions.

Buy Mo

Best Small Towns

Veterans use skills learned in the military for businesses they own.

Copyright © 2026 by Missouri Life, Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, or broadcast in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Missouri Life, Inc., except for brief quotations used in reviews or other editorial contexts permitted by law. Missouri Life, PO Box 57, Rocheport, MO 65279. All rights reserved.

July/August | 2 0 2 6

Uncover nine of the best small towns in our state.

29 5

Hometown Heroes

BEFORE

Table of F E AT U R E S

Meet the woman revitalizing South Cape Girardeau, a couple restoring Sumner High School, and the woman who made a difference in Fulton.

!Jt@tN

June 2026

Weird Town Names

28

Ever wonder how towns like Licking, Tightwad, and Bland got their names?

Find out here.

Visit Fore the View Experience a round of golf like no RWKHU -RKQQ\ 0RUULVȆV &OLಀKDQJHUV golf course leads players through FDYHV FUHHN EHGV DQG FOLಀVLGHV

Famous Fish Fry )RU \HDUV D ZHHNO\ ࡼVK IU\ KDV been running at St. Ferdinand Parish.

Meet the community that’s dedicated to keeping the tradition alive.

38

44

James Eads spent his life outsmarting the Mississippi River. His ingenuity built a bridge that seemed impossible.

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Oldest Bridge on the Mississippi

Cliffhangers at Hollister offers golfers more than just a round of golf: it’s a premier experience that immerses players in the beauty of the Ozarks.

JUne 2026

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Saddle up for the tale of outlaw Tom Horn.

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14 Show Me Shop

A paradise for pets brings wacky and unique treats to Columbia.

22 Explore

52 Pour Decisions

Non-spirited drinks are on the rise, elevating cocktail craft.

54 No Place Like Home

One night at summer camp turned Lorry Myers from outcast to outstanding.

Howler Bike Park mixes thrilling trails with Missouri monster lore.

The Rivermaster

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Matt Crossman tries to catch the elusive “Crane Creek” trout, during one of his outings.

50 Forgotten Lore

Full Page Find an art event and an ice cream

View behind-the-scenes photos of a homesteading Instagram LQࡽXHQFHU DQG KHU VL[ FKLOGUHQ

The Internet’s Favorite Homestead

Readers express love for our writers and running.

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Big Cedar Lodge

24 Dining

7KLV UHVWDXUDQW LJQLWHV WKH ࡽDYRUV of German heritage in Hermann.

56 Event Calendar

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Town Names That Tell a Story

The

Readers voted Hermann, well-renowned for its wine and historic architecture and located by the Missouri River, as their favorite small town.

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Notley Hawkins

18 Books

10 Discover

22 Forgotten Lore

14 Explore

50 Event Calendar

16 Dining

64 Q & A

CO LU M N S 6 My Missouri Life

48 No Place Like Home

Readers debate the pronunciation of Missouri and profess their love for Route 66.

Learn about an institute overflowing with puppetry, an event celebrating culture, and a consignment shop aimed at sustainability.

Find 14 famous trees rooted in Mountain View.

Taste sweet treats at this bakery in Perryville.

Senior editor Tara Clackson details her love for the quaint winery town of Rocheport.

44 The Adventurous Life

Float alongside Matt Crossman through Dardenne Creek Blueway.

46 Pour Decisions

Doug Frost praises small-town wineries.

Read about 50 small Missouri towns, German heritage in Hermann, yummy baking recipes, a family saga, and a stunning cathedral in Saint Louis.

Renowned explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton made a stately arrival in St. Joseph during the Pony Express era.

Find your fun at 149 events all around Missouri.

We asked readers what they liked about their small hometowns.

Lorry Myers’s big dreams led her back to her hometown of Centralia.

PA R T N E R S 12 Stay Inn

An inn in Rocky Mount serves breakfast and has beautiful lake views.

September | 2 0 2 6

WITH HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS

3

16 Stay Inn

An inn in Weston, once owned by %HQ +ROODGD\ RಀHUV KLVWRU\ KRVSLtality, and a homey atmosphere.

26 Books

Encounter Kansas City history, and notable animals.

Meet 4 Hometown Heroes

48 The Adventurous Life

10 Letters

12 Discover

Homesteading Heart

Fish Fry Every Friday

D E PA R T M E N T S

Find Fourteen Famous Trees

NOT LEY HAWK IN S

32

38

D E PA R T M E N T S 8 Letters

18 Featured Artist

Barb Byrne creates landscapes using colorful, powdered glass.

Splash into 147 summer events.

20 Mo Beef

COLUMNS

8 My Missouri Life

Graphic designer Rachel Goodbee shares how she joined the magazine.

This sale barn in Palmyra, in operation since the 1970s, combines tradition and innovation to keep the market alive.

MISSOURI LIFE, Vol. 53, No. 5, 2026 (USPS#020181; ISSN#1525-0814) Published eight times a year in January, March, May, June, July, September, October, and November by Missouri Life Inc., PO Box 57, 208 Columbia Street, Rocheport, MO 65279 for $21.99. Periodicals Postage paid at Rocheport, Missouri, and DGGLWLRQDO PDLOLQJ RࡺFHV 32670$67(5 6HQG DGGUHVV FKDQJHV WR 0LVVRXUL /LIH 32 %R[ 5RFKHSRUW 02 Copyright © 2026 by Missouri Life, Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, or broadcast in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Missouri Life, Inc., except for brief quotations used in reviews or other editorial contexts permitted by law. Missouri Life, PO Box 57, Rocheport, MO 65279. All rights reserved.

June | 2 0 2 6

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CONTENTS BY LOCATION + MASTHEAD AFTER

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CONTENT

BEFORE Content by

Conception Junction

Hannibal Weston

Carrolton

Arrow Rock Boonville Rocheport

Lexington Independence Peculiar

SEPTEMBER 2026 | ISSUE 8 | VOL #120

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Hallsville

Knob Noster

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Fulton Hermann Augusta Bland

Climax Springs

St. James

Ste. Genevieve Jackson

Liberal

Arcadia

Licking

Cape Girardeau Eminence Mountain View

Cooter

Concordia .............. 56, 64 Conway.................. 50, 52 Cooter ...........................40 Cottleville .............. 44, 45 Cuba ............................... 8 Crystal City....................58 Dardenne Prairie..........60 Defiance .......................46 Dexter ...........................63 Diamond ......................52 Dixon ............................50 Doniphan .....................62 Dutzhow .......................46 Edgerton ......................56 Eldon ............................50 Eminence .............. 25, 33 Eureka ..........................60 Excelsior Springs..........56 Fair Grove .....................54 Farmington ..................62 Festus ...........................58 Fulton .................... 34, 35 Gallatin .........................56 Gainesville ...................62 Grain Valley ..................56 Hamilton ......................57 Halsville........................36 Hannibal ........... 8, 15, 20 58, 64 Hermann.........25, 26, 58

Historic Ilasco ...............64 Hollister........................52 Independence ...... 11, 14 56, 57 Jackson.................. 37, 62 Jamesport ....................57 Jefferson City ...............50 Joplin .................... 10, 52 Kahoka .........................58 Kansas City ............ 56, 57 Kearney ........................56 Kennett.................. 62, 63 Kimberling City............52 Kirksville............ 8, 18, 58 Kirkwood ......................60 Knob Noster .................40 Lake of the Ozarks....12, 50 Lampe ................... 50, 52 Leasburg.......................62 Lebanon .......................50 Lee’s Summit ...............57 Lexington ........25, 30, 56 Liberal...........................40 Licking ..........................41 Lincoln ..........................50 Mansfield .....................54 Marionville...................52 Marshall .......................56 Maryland Heights........58 Mexico..........................58

Missouri Life has paid to plant over 2,475 trees in the United States to replace those used to make this magazine since we joined the PrintReleaf program more than three years ago.

4

Managing Partners Danita Allen Wood, Greg Wood

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Jefferson City, 16, 35, 38, 65 Joplin, 58 Kansas City, 10, 16, 54, 60 Kimberling City, 39 Kirksville, 62 Kirkwood, 62 Koeltztown, 18 Lamar, 16, 58 Lampe, 58 Lebanon, 65 Lee’s Summit, 44, 60 Lexington, 16, 60 Liberty, 16, 36 Maldon, 16 Maplewood, 62 Marble Hill, 25 Marshall, 10, 16, 60 Maryland Heights, 62 Maryville, 60 Memphis, 16 Mexico, 16, 62 Miami, 60 Mokane, 65 Mountain Grove, 58 New Haven, 66 Nevada, 58 O’Fallon, 37 Osceola, 16 Ozark, 20, 22 Parkville, 60 Perryville, 64 Pierce City, 58 Potosi, 64

Puxico, 51 Raytown, 60 Ridgedale, 58 Rocheport, 10, 65 Rolla, 39, 64 Salem, 23, 64 Salisbury, 16 Schell City, 51 Sedalia, 16, 23, 65 Sikeston, 64 Slater, 16 Smithville, 51 Springfield, 16, 26, 51, 58 St. Charles, 35, 47, 62 Ste. Genevieve, 33, 64 St. James, 64 St. Joseph, 16, 60 St. Louis, 8, 10, 16, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 39, 48, 51, 62 St. Robert, 65 Steelville, 64 Stockton, 10 Sumner, 51 Troy, 62 Warrensburg, 10, 23 Warsaw, 51, 65 Washington, 62 Waynesville, 12 West Alton, 51 Weston, 60 Winfield, 51

Senior Editors Tara Clarkson, Andrea Kaneko

Mindenmines ..............40 Moberly........................58 Mokane ........................50 Mountain View ..... 14, 15 Neosho .........................54 New Haven...................46 New Madrid .................63 Nixa ..............................54 Normandy ....................60 O’Fallon ................. 45, 60 Oregon .........................56 Ozark ..................... 52, 64 Pacific ...........................10 Peculiar.........................41 Perryville ............... 16, 62 Pierce City.............. 54, 57 Pleasant Hill .................46 Pomme de Terre.......... 50 Poplar Bluff ..................63 Potosi............................46 Princeton ......................56 Raytown .......................56 Ridgedale.....................52 Rocheport.................6, 25 Rocky Mount ................12 Rolla ...................... 11, 62 Rosebud .......................58 Saint Albans ................... 8 Salem ...........................62 Seymour.......................52

Shell Knob....................52 Sibley............................57 Sikeston................. 62, 63 Springfield ............ 52, 54 St. Charles ............. 44, 45 58, 60 St. James ............... 25, 31 46, 62 St. Joseph .............. 22, 57 St. Louis ......... 6, 8, 18, 20 58, 60 St. Peters.......................45 St. Robert......................50 Steelville...................8, 63 Ste. Genevieve ...... 25, 27 28, 62 Stockton .......................54 Stover ...........................46 Tebbetts ........................50 Tightwad.......................41 Turners..........................64 Verona ..........................11 Warsaw.........................41 Washington .................60 Webster Groves... 8, 18, 58 Wentzville ............. 58, 60 West Plains............ 62, 63 Weston ............25, 29, 57 Willard..........................52 Windsor........................64

MISSOURI LIFE, Vol. 53, No. 7, 2026 (USPS#020181; ISSN#15250814) Published eight times per year in January, March, May, June, July, September, October, and November by Missouri Life Inc., PO Box 57, 208 Columbia Street, Rocheport, MO 65279 for $21.99. February (No. 2) this year was a bonus. Periodicals Postage paid at Rocheport, MO, and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Missouri Life, PO Box 57, Rocheport, MO 65279.

Copyright © 2026 by Missouri Life, Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, or broadcast in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Missouri Life, Inc., except for brief quotations used in reviews or other editorial contexts permitted by law. Missouri Life, PO Box 57, Rocheport, MO 65279. All rights reserved.

DIGITAL EDITION Missourilife.com OTHER MEDIA Missouri Life Tv, Missouri Lifelines

Graphic Designer Rachel Goodbee Contributing Writers Matt Fox, Kristina Light, Heather Physioc, Steve Wiegenstein, Emma Zawacki Columnists Matt Crossman, Doug Frost, Lorry Myers, Ron Soodalter Contributing Photographers Matt Fox, Heather Physioc MARKETING Advertising and Marketing Executives Mary Leonard Bullington, Kansas City, 816-868-7498

Manager Melinda Strain CIRCULATION Management NPS Media Group Newsstand JK Associates MANAGING PARTNERS Danita Allen Wood, Greg Wood

BUILT ON DETERMINATION. STANDING FOR GENERATIONS.

Start your trip to the top. GatewayArch.com

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MissouriLife.com

BEFORE

MISSOURI LIFE MERCANTILE Melinda Strain

NEWSSTAND Jk Associates

Senior Editors Tara Clarkson, Andrea Kaneko

MISSOURI LIFE MERCANTILE

Web Design Adam Wright

CIRCULATION Nps Media Group

EDITORIAL & ART

Website Design Adam Wright

Contributing Photographers Notley Hawkins, Shawn Love

St. Louis Thomas Ruesch, 314-359-0598

Publisher Evan Allen Wood

OTHER MEDIA MissouriLife.com, Missouri Life TV, Facebook, Instagram, Digital Edition, Missouri LifeLines

Contributing Writers Diana West, Kristina Light, Emma Zawacki, Ron Soodalter

ADVERTISING & MARKETING EXECUTIVES Kansas City Mary Leonard Bullington, 816-868-7498

MissouriLife.com | Info@MissouriLife.com | 1-800-492-2593

Advertising Coordinator Amy Stapleton, 573-514-5453

Columnists Matt Crossman, Doug Frost, Lorry Myers

Advertising Coordinator Amy Stapleton, 573-514-5453

PO Box 57, 208 Columbia Street Rocheport, MO 65279 SUBSCRIBE

Thomas Ruesch, St. Louis, 314-359-0598

Designers Jim Nissen, Rachel Goodbee

Blue Eye

Arcadia..........................25 Arrow Rock ............ 25, 28 Augusta ................. 25, 46 Ballwin ........................ 58 Bland ............................38 Blue Eye........................39 Blue Springs ................56 Boonville ............... 36, 50 Bourbon .......................58 Bowling Green .............58 Branson ........................52 Brookfield.....................56 Buffalo ................... 54, 64 Cabool ..........................62 Caledonia .....................62 Calhoun........................50 Cape Girardeau ...........37 62, 63 Carl Junction ................54 Carrollton .....................32 Carthage.......................52 Centralia .......................48 Chadwick......................52 Chillicothe ....................56 Clarksville .....................32 Clayton .........................58 Climax Springs.............39 Cole Camp....................50 Columbia .............. 10, 50 Conception Junction ...39

Publisher Evan Allen Wood

Ash Grove, 52 Ashland, 65 Aurora, 52 Benton, 64 Bevier, 62 Bloomfield, 16, 64 Blue Springs, 39 Boonville, 65 Branson, 10, 14, 39, 51, 58 Brunswick, 41 Butler, 16 California, 24, 39 Cape Girardeau, 16, 39 Carrollton, 60 Carthage, 58 Chesterfield, 62 Clarksville, 51 Cole Camp, 65 Columbia, 10, 16, 18, 22, 50, 51, 65 Concordia, 16, 66 Conway, 65 Cottleville, 16 Crane, 58 Cuba, 64 Eureka, 62 Excelsior Springs, 60 Fayette, 8, 60 Florissant, 47, 62 Fort Leonard Wood, 39 French Village, 24 Gladstone, 39 Hannibal, 62, 66 Hermann, 8, 39, 62 Independence, 12, 16, 28, 60 Jackson, 64

Content by Ashland, 10 Blue Springs, 30 Boonville, 61 Branson, 62 Brookfield, 54 Burfordville, 58 Caledonia, 62 Camdenton, 30, 60 Cape Girardeau, 30, 58, 59 Carthage, 62, 63 Cole Camp, 60 Columbia, 8, 12, 14, 26, 60, 61 Cottleville, 56, 57 Crane, 46 Dadeville, 59 Diamond, 62 Doniphan, 59 East Prairie, 59 Eldon, 61 Etna, 48 Excelsior Springs, 54 Florissant, 33 Fulton, 60 Gladstone, 54 Greenwood, 54 Hannibal, 56, 57 Hartville, 37, 63 Hermann, 24, 56 Hollister, 28 Independence, 54 Jackson, 59 Jefferson City, 60, 61, 66

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Joplin, 62, 63 Kansas City, 12, 26, 50, 54, 66 Kimberling City, 62 Kimmswick, 56 King City, 54 Kirksville, 12, 56, 57 Kirkwood, 56 Lake Ozark, 60 Lamar, 63 Lampe, 63 Leasburg, 59 Lebanon, 60, 61 Lee’s Summit, 18, 54 Liberty, 54 Linn Creek, 61 Macon, 57 Manchester, 56 Maplewood, 57 Maryland Heights, 57 Maryville, 54 Mexico, 10, 56 Moberly, 56, 57 Neosho, 62, 63 Nevada, 62 Newburg, 58 North Kansas City, 54 O’Fallon, 56 Ozark, 62, 63 Pacific, 57 Palmyra, 20 Park Hills, 58 Perryville, 58

Poplar Bluff, 58 Potosi, 59 Reeds Spring, 62 Rocheport, 10, 61 Rolla, 58, 59 Sedalia, 61 Sikeston, 58 Smithville, 54 Springfield, 10, 46, 62, 63 St. Albans, 10 St. Charles, 30, 56, 57 St. James, 59 St. Joseph, 54 St. Louis, 10, 12, 26, 33, 42, 43, 45, 50, 56, 57 St. Peters, 46 St. Robert, 61 Ste. Genevieve, 58, 59 Steelville, 59 Sugar Creek, 54 Versailles, 60 Walnut Shade, 22 Wappapello, 58 Warrensburg, 61 Warsaw, 60, 61 Washington, 57 Waverly, 66 West Plains, 58, 59 Weston, 16, 54 Wheatland, 61 Willard, 63

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Publisher Evan Allen Wood EDITORIAL & ART Associate Editors Andrea Kaneko, Sydney Jones Graphic Designer Rachel Goodbee Copy Editor Tara Clarkson Contributing Writers Chuck Lyons, Emma Zawacki, Danielle Bopp Breshears, Melissa Shipman Columnists Doug Frost, Lorry Myers, Matt Crossman, Ron Soodalter Contributing Photographers Melissa Shipman MARKETING Advertising and Marketing Executives Thomas Ruesch, St. Louis, 314-359-0598 Mary Leonard Bullington, Kansas City, 816-868-7498 Advertising Coordinator Amy Stapleton, 573-514-5453 OTHER MEDIA MissouriLife.com, Missouri Life TV, Facebook, Instagram, X, Digital Edition, Missouri Lifelines

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Website Design Adam Wright MISSOURI LIFE MERCANTILE Manager Melinda Strain CIRCULATION Management NPS Media Group Newsstand JK Associates MANAGING PARTNERS Danita Allen Wood, Greg Wood

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MY MISSOURI LIFE Editors Column AFTER

MyM I S S O U R I L I F E

BEFORE

Living the Small Town Dream My sunset dreams become a reality.

A Perfect Spring Day

Missouri Life has paid to plant over 2,475 trees in the United States to replace those used to make this magazine since we joined the PrintReleaf program more than three years ago.

58 8

don’t think there’s anywhere quite as romantic as Missouri in the springtime.

I’ve been to my fair share of destinations renowned for romantic splendor—Italy, Greece, Paris, Puerto Rico, California wine country, upstate New York—and as much as I’ve adored each of them, Missouri in the spring remains my ideal romantic backdrop.

This fact was on my mind when I proposed to Gabrielle Johnson in Forest Park in 2024. The two of us met by chance in St. /RXLV DQG RQH RI RXU ࡼUVW GDWHV ZDV VLWWLQJ on a picnic blanket in the park, talking of all the places we wanted to visit one day. It was October when I popped the question, and although it’s not my personal favorite season, a fall wedding one year hence was our initial thought.

According to the statistics, it’s probably your best bet weather-wise. There’s less of a chance for rain and oppressive heat, and if you luck out, it’s hard to beat. A couple of my closest friends proved that back in October of 2018. Their wedding in Hermann took place on a perfectly crisp autumn day with unforgettable fall foliage everywhere you looked.

I’d always thought my eventual wedding would take place on the farm where I grew up, just outside of Fayette. Most of the land there was under a conservation easement, and on an average day, I only needed to look out my window to see towering old sycamores, cottonwoods, and elms, with pastures full of native grasses swaying in the wind.

At night, the sky was always clear enough to make out traces of the Milky Way as long as the moon wasn’t too bright, DQG WKRVH ࡼHOGV ZRXOG KDYH VR PDQ\ ࡼUH-

ࡽLHV LQ WKHP WKDW WKHLU ELROXPLQHVFHQW EOLQNLQJ ORRNHG OLNH ࡽDVK EXOEV OLJKWLQJ up a football stadium. In the spring, on WKH ࡼUVW ZDUP GD\V EHIRUH DQ\ WUHHV KDG budded out, I would crack my window at night to hear the tree frogs singing as I IHOO DVOHHS $OO RI P\ ࡼUVW LPSUHVVLRQV RI what a romantic setting looked like were informed by that place.

I found myself lobbying to get married there, but we quickly realized that turning my childhood home into a wedding YHQXH ZDV VLJQLࡼFDQWO\ PRUH FRPSOLFDWed and costly than renting a venue. Good thing for us, then, is that there happens to be a wedding venue two miles away DV WKH FURZ ࡽLHV WKDW VKDUHV D ORW RI WKH same charms while adding several of its own.

After settling on a location, we returned to the question of season. We wanted to have the ceremony outdoors. Fall wasn’t going to work for logistical reasons, and ZH ࡼJXUHG VXPPHU ZRXOG EH WRR KRW :H knew the worst-case scenarios for spring could include a snowstorm or a tornado, but we decided to roll the dice anyway, ࡼJXULQJ WKDW WKH PRVW OLNHO\ EDG ZHDWKHU situation (cold and rainy) would still have an air of Jane Austen.

When the day came, we couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was clear in the afternoon with a healthy breeze and highs in the low 70s. As the day ended, a light cover of clouds came in from the west, providing better lighting for our photographer.

I’ll always be grateful that the romance of Missouri in spring was on full display to set the tone for the start of our new life together.

By Tara Clarkson | Tara@MissouriLife.com

W

Tara Clarkson, Senior Editor at Missouri Life Magazine

MissouriLife.com

BEFORE

Go Chasing Unicorns

Missouri Life has paid to plant over 2,349 trees in the United States to replace those used to PDNH WKLV PDJD]LQH VLQFH ZH joined the PrintReLeaf program more than three years ago.

8

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fter being hired at Missouri Life, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that hunting for unicorns does not always end in disappointment.

I graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia in December 2QFH WKH H[FLWHPHQW ZRUH Rಀ and the fear of true adulthood set in, I formulated the most bare-bones plan to keep my life on track: I would give myself all of January to job hunt. If I GLGQȆW KDYH DQ\WKLQJ E\ WKH ࡼUVW RI February, I would don my old green apron and return to my cashier job at Panera Bread in Columbia Mall.

7KH RQO\ SUREOHP ZDV P\ VSHFLࡼF job criteria. My interest was in print GHVLJQ VSHFLࡼFDOO\ PDJD]LQH SULQW design. I hoped for a job that was in person, close to Columbia, and allowed me to illustrate every once in a while.

I knew my chances of a job that actually matched this description were VOLP )RU RQH PRVW PDJD]LQHV GRQȆW hire in-house designers anymore. Not only that, but mid-Missouri isn’t exactO\ D KRW VSRW IRU PDJD]LQH SXEOLFDWLRQV I was searching for a unicorn, and I had D PRQWK WR ࡼQG LW After scrolling through a bulk of job postings, one stuck out to me on January 14. Despite my laundry list of improbabilities, I stumbled upon a listing that met everything I was looking IRU D IDPLO\ RZQHG PDJD]LQH EDVHG LQ

a small town just 20 minutes from my Columbia apartment. Missouri Life was looking for a designer to work in the RࡺFH ZLWK WKH HGLWRULDO WHDP WR GHVLJQ WKH PDJD]LQH FUHDWH SDJHV DQG GHVLJQ columns. My hopes skyrocketed as I read the description, only to plummet ZKHQ , QRWLFHG WKH TXDOLࡼFDWLRQV WKUHH WR ࡼYH \HDUV RI H[SHULHQFH I could feel the unicorn escaping.

Nevertheless, I sent an email. I attached my portfolio and resume. I didn’t bother writing a cover letter because I was so sure I’d be turned down.

I got an email back the same day.

One interview led to another, and I found myself working in a job I had nearly convinced myself would be imSRVVLEOH WR ࡼQG Missouri Life took a chance on me, and I want to cultivate this opportuQLW\ EHFDXVH WKH PDJD]LQH LV WUXO\ something special. As I’ve worked on designing the May and June 2026 issues, I’ve focused on partnering my passion for design alongside Missouri Life’s passion for storytelling. I don’t ZDQW WR FKDQJH WKH PDJD]LQH , MXVW want to enhance the stories and make the experience even better for you, the reader.

6

I have experienced pitch-black walks at night through the only tunnel on the Katy Trail, chili cooked on a hidden beach along the Missouri River, hikes in the surrounding woods to look for morels for dinner, and goats on the loose, lying in neighbors’ yards.

You never know how your night will end as you take a walk across town. One thing leads to another, and suddenly you are four-houses deep, hanging out with friends when you planned just a 15-minute jaunt.

We sit out front of Katy's Fork in the Trail when it’s closed with the mayor and other regulars on Sunday evenings. We circle twice around a four-block perimeter in the Fourth of July parade in the town’s gator, named Neptune, which is normally used by volunteers to water plants around town. We enjoy a Rocheport smorgasbord in which you walk through your friends’ backyards and grab something to eat along the way—tomatoes here, apples and peaches there, picking up eggs we’ll cook for breakfast.

As other townies have described it, it’s magical here.

And to top it all off with a cherry, after two years of copyediting part-time for Missouri Life, I am now here full time doing what I love best—playing with words to create meaning and tell stories.

From left, Drew and Sara Lemberger and Andy and Chandrika Hickman are in front of the General Store (now Katy's a Fork in the Trail).

MissouriLife.com

R AC H E L G O O D B E E

By Rachel Goodbee Graphic designer | Rachel@MissouriLife.com

ho would have guessed that I would move to a town of 227 and find my dream job a few blocks away?

Editors Andrea Kaneko, Sydney Jones, and I, along with designer Rachel Goodbee, are spread across the editorial room at Missouri Life, brainstorming what we want the front cover to say for our June feature on golf courses.

Some ideas are plausible, like Scenic Golf Courses, but mixed in are play on words, like Tee Time, and things we know would never make the cut but are making us laugh, like Putting Around the State. We bounce words off of one another, hoping they will morph into a discovery: ultimately something, dear reader, that will spark your interest. (We ended up with Panoramic Putting.)

It’s my first week in my new full-time position, and all the while I’m thinking to myself, This is really my job. I get to work with words for my job.

My husband, Roman, and I started visiting our friends in Rocheport in 2012. I remember the moment I first thought, This is where I want to live. The sun was setting, pink streaks above the bluffs, as our friends took us on a driving tour of the town in their 2008 red Chrysler Sebring convertible. Crawling along at two miles an hour, we heard stories of the people who lived here and the history of the town. All of a sudden, I just loved this place and wanted it to be my own.

The thing is, even though I knew we treasured a weekend getaway in this itty-bitty town, I didn’t know how we would like living here after our 20 years in St. Louis. I had never lived in a small town, not even a medium-sized one. But in 2022, we took a chance on our feelings and let the rest go.

Rocheport exceeded our expectations and then some. The community is amazing. I know my neighbors’ names … and their neighbors … and the neighbors on the outskirts of town. I care about these people. I care what happens to the town.

R OM AN C LAR KS ON

I

R U STY W R I G H T

By Evan Wood Publisher | Evan@MissouriLife.com

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MISSOURI LIFE PARTNER Sponsored Content AFTER

Partner

BEFORE

Presented In Partnership With Stay Inn The Heartland

Arrive as Guests.

Leave as Friends.

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH STAY INN THE HEARTLAND

Vacation Rentals for Families

Treat your family to a reunion they won’t forget.

Get away and relax at The Garden House Bed and Breakfast.

Story by Tara Clarkson

By Tara Clarkson

The Lake of the Ozarks, a man-made reservoir, is a destination for boating, fishing, and water sports.

Sunrises and sunsets are special at The Garden House Bed and Breakfast with its 180-degree view.

The Garden House Bed and Breakfast is a member of Stay Inn the Heartland, which has curated a collection of exceptional lodging experiences across the Heartland of America.

Members are inspected and earn the HeartlandCertified STAY stamp of approval. Guests earn rewards through an INNer Circle loyalty program after five STAYS. StayInnTheHeartland.com

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“

H

old on, there’s a big boat going by. We’re sitting outside.” It’s a perfect 74-degree day, and Shannon and Todd Watkins are relaxing on the dock that adjoins The Garden House Bed and Breakfast as they share their backgrounds and what brought them here.

Todd and Shannon bought the bed-and-breakfast in 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was plenty of time to scroll online and dream about a new life. When Shannon found The Garden House Bed and Breakfast was for sale, they took a trip from their home in Iowa, and within a week, they decided to move.

Todd says that if they had known the pandemic was about to shut down the world, they would not have risked starting a new business, but as it turns out, it was their best year to date. “Typically there’s about four million visitors between the two holidays every summer, and in 2021, ’22, and ’23, there were around eight million,” Todd says.

The Watkins have been in the hotel business their whole lives, Shannon in sales and Todd in operations. “We don’t know which one of us said it. One of us said, ‘Oh, it would be great to own a bed-and-breakfast someday,’ ” Todd says.

They bought the business turnkey, with guests in the house the day they started. Previous owners Lil and Doug Meyer hung around for a month, showing Todd and Shannon the ropes. Since then, they have painted, refreshed the furniture in each room, and bought new linens and towels.

The Watkins also added onto the dock. “We added a swim platform, a little bar with a TV and refrigerator, kayaks, and paddleboards. We’ll have a lot of guests that will just hang out on the dock, and then we’ll see them down there

The Highland Retreat offers six bedrooms, a spa, a home theater, and a heated indoor pool.

Together, Tyann Marcink Hammond and her husband, Nat Hammond, have six kids.

The Highland Retreat rental is located next to Table Rock Lake.

Shannon and Todd Watkins met in 1994 as interns at Marriott's Tan-Tar-A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks.

later at night with a bottle of wine,” Todd says.

Todd does the cooking and cleaning, and Shannon does the bookkeeping and gardening, in addition to her fulltime “real job,” as Todd says, doing group sales for BWH Hotels. Shannon adds, with a laugh, that they refer to Todd’s role of running the bed-and-breakfast as “the retired job.”

Over 30 indoor plants came with the house, along with huge gardens at the back of the house where they grow tomatoes, peppers, jalapeños, onions, and herbs. Todd, who has always liked cooking and baking, incorporates fresh veggies and herbs into the breakfasts he makes. He has a repertoire of about 10 days’ worth of breakfasts, including made-to-order omelets, French toast, waffles, a Mediterranean breakfast pie, an all-American breakfast, and a ham, egg, and cheese ciabatta. “I’ve cracked a lot of eggs in six years,” Todd says.

Guests come to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, honeymoons, or they come to relax, hang out on the dock, and watch boats go by. “We ask them if they have plans, and most of them are like, ‘Nope, we just came to get away, just came to relax,’ ” Shannon says.

Shannon and Todd’s favorite part of running the business is their guests and meeting people from all over the world. “We’ve had a lot of repeat guests we’ve gotten to know and become friends with who come back year after year,” Shannon says. “We made up a new sign a few years back that says, ‘Arrive as guests. Leave as friends.’ “ 4 Haney Road, Rocky Mount TheGardenHouseBNB.com

Branson Family Retreats is a member of Stay Inn the Heartland, which has curated a collection of exceptional lodging experiences across the Heartland of America.

Members are inspected and earn the Heartland&HUWLࡼHG 67$< VWDPS RI approval. Guests earn rewards through an INNer Circle loyalty SURJUDP DIWHU ࡼYH 67$<6 StayInnTheHeartland.com

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F

ostering family relationships by offering rentals where families can gather is the focus of Branson Family Retreats at Table Rock Lake. Owner Tyann Marcink Hammond says, “One of our values is family and supporting the family unit because the family unit is the basis for life and for community.” Supporting families, she says, “helps to change the world.”

This means removing as much stress as possible and providing places of rest and peace so guests can create special memories.

Tyann’s parents started one of the first vacation rentals at Table Rock Lake, and Tyann decided she wanted to follow in their footsteps. “I loved it and got addicted to serving people through hospitality and providing a space for families to come together.”

Branson Family Retreats has 13 homes, offering anywhere from two bedroom rentals up to multiple houses that can be rented together with ample sleeping space “so that a large family reunion of 50-plus people could all stay together,” Tyann explains.

Her favorite rental is the Highland Retreat, with decor inspired by her honeymoon with her husband, Nat Hammond, at the Isle of Skye in Scotland. They took pictures of a large dining table with thrones when they visited Stirling Castle, and after returning home, they commissioned a local woodworker to create replicas for the Highland Retreat.

If the castle decor doesn’t pique your interest, something in the rental collection is sure to. Each offers unique decor and amenities, providing a number of ways for families to create joy—hot tubs, covered decks with Weber grills and a view of the lake, an outdoor slide that takes you from a deck to the ground floor, indoor and outdoor pools, reading nooks, foosball, pool tables, fire pits, and fully equipped kitchens.

Tyann’s focus on families goes beyond the vacation rentals though; for each booking, the company gives a dollar to the Court Appointed Special Advocates, an organization run by volunteer advocates who provide consistent support for foster children. Tyann also gives back to the community by assisting and teaching others in the vacation rental and hospitality industry and is a worldwide speaker with a focus on the guest experience, communications, and operations.

Tyann is a self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” who has many roles, but her favorite role is serving families. She feels delighted “when guests give us feedback on how incredible their stay was, how we anticipated their needs before they realized they had them, that we took care of them, and that they were able to focus on their family.”

FULL PAGE

Table Rock Lake, Branson BransonFamilyRetreats.com

BRANSON FAMILY RETREATS

Owners Shannon and Todd Watkins live in a renovated one-bedroom boathouse on-site.

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BEFORE PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH STAY INN

An Egg-cellent Stay

This bed-and-breakfast in Weston features historic rooms and Jacuzzis.

Local beverages and a charcuterie tray await each guest upon check-in.

Owners Julie and Richard Jones

Each room has a deck with a view of the lake where you can savor a homemade breakfast made by Todd Watkins.

The Hatchery House Bed & Breakfast is a member of Stay Inn the Heartland, which has curated a collection of exceptional lodging experiences across the Heartland of America.

Members are inspected and HDUQ WKH +HDUWODQG &HUWLࡼHG STAY stamp of approval.

Guests earn rewards through an INNer Circle OR\DOW\ SURJUDP DIWHU ࡼYH STAYS.

Story by Andrea Kaneko

W

hy did the chicken cross the road? To get to The Hatchery House Bed & Breakfast in Weston!

The Hatchery House was originally built in 1845

by Benjamin Wood, who became mayor of Weston, and was later bought by Ben Holladay, cofounder of the famous Holladay Distillery. The building passed through many of the Holladay family’s hands before it became an apartment in the 1940s. Due to the low rent, many young couples lived there and started their families. The apartment building was subsequently called “The Hatchery” because that is where babies were “hatched.”

The building was converted into a bed-andbreakfast in 1987, making it the oldest operating bed-and-breakfast in Weston. In 2022, it was bought by the inn’s current owners, Richard and Julie Jones. The inn features four guest suites, each with its own queen bed, fireplace, and private bathroom, and a cottage outbuilding suite that was formerly an old washhouse. The Cottage features a king-sized bed and a Jacuzzi. Guests of the inn can enjoy a complimentary five-course breakfast.

The guest suites each have a different theme: the Reindeer Suite, featuring a Christmas motif, the Pineapple Room, the fruit being a symbol

of hospitality in the colonial era, the Highlands Room, which honors Weston’s Scottish and Irish roots, and the Holladay Brothers Room, which features historic images of the Holladay family.

“We’ve actually had a guest who is a descendant of Ben Holladay who came and stayed with us specifically to research more history,” Julie says.

Hidden away in an old root cellar within the bedand-breakfast is a private event space called The Roost that has a speakeasy-type feel. For those who want to keep the party going, they can stroll across the street to O’Malley’s Pub or visit the nearby Holladay Distillery.

“One of the things we used to do is to go to bed-and-breakfasts in different places. There’s town squares that offer things for people, but typically they always catered toward women or antiques and women’s boutiques,” Julie says. “And when we came to Weston for a stay, we really found that Weston had something for everybody.

We have shops that can meet any interest.”

618 Short Street, Weston HatcheryBB.com

Every morning in the dining room, coffee is available starting at 7 am and breakfast starts at 9 am.

JULIE JONES

StayInnTheHeartland.com

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5

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LETTERS Department AFTER

Readers' Reflections

LETTERS

BEFORE

Uh Oh! The Old “ee” vs. “uh” Debate

Info@MissouriLife.com Missouri Life Magazine @MissouriLifeMag

About That Hymn What a touching article [“My Husband’s Hymnal,” by Andrea Kaneko, May 2026]. Every time you hear that hymn or others you sang with a little one swaying along inside, you will remember those sweet moments before she was born. God bless you and your growing family.

—Susie Wine, Leawood, Kansas (born and raised in Marshall) Your storytelling deeply resonated with something in my soul. It was sweet, touching, and reminded me of the simpler days in our culture a century ago when we were acutely aware of what truly matters. I enjoyed every word, from the ࡼUVW WR WKH ODVW —Lisa Button, Branson

Readers Have Concerns I am writing to express my concern regarding the publication of an article in your magazine that used the term “gypped” to mean cheated or swindled. In the May 2026 issue, an article [“The Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed Jesse James,” by Ron Soodalter] notes that “Bob and his brother Charlie were essentially gypped of the reward money …”

As you likely know, the word is derived from “Gypsy,” a term historically applied to the Romani people, and has long been used to perpetuate harmful stereotypes that portray an entire ethnic group as dishonest or criminal. For this reason, the term is ZLGHO\ FRQVLGHUHG DQ RಀHQVLYH HWKnic slur, which is why it was so surprising to see your publication permit its use. I hope you will consider correcting the article, apologizing to readers and advertisers, and reviewing editorial guidelines to help prevent similar oversights in the future.

I appreciate the work that goes into SURGXFLQJ WKH PDJD]LQH DQG RಀHU this feedback in the spirit of encouraging accurate, respectful, and inclusive language.

—Bill Vandivort, Kansas City

We are embarrassed and sorry for our editing oversight.

Consider us chastised.

—Editors

—Steve Walker, Warrensburg

Praise for New Columnist Thank you to Matt Crossman for “Remember That Time Everything Went Perfectly,” May 2026. What a lovely article! Having bicycled the Katy Trail and walked many hiking miles in our beautiful state, I am with him appreciating those present moments.

Wonder times! I’m a grandma now and grateful for all the memories and the shorter adventures I’ve had this spring and hope to keep having in marvelous Missouri!

—Diana Oleskevich, St Louis I enjoyed reading about your Katy Trail adventure. Last three years, I have walked the trail from St. Louis to Kansas City for a charity fundraiser. I walk 310 miles over two weeks.

Being a fundraiser for Church World Service, the small-town churches host me.

First couple weeks of October, if you cross paths with an old guy pulling a cart, stop for a chat.

I do not want to see a woman breastfeeding her kid!!! I don’t care how natural you think this is.

The act in which people partake in to create a child and sitting on a toilet is also a natural thing. NEITHER of these I want to see in a magazine or anywhere!!!

She is not a hero because that is how she chose to feed her kid. Do better.

—Sheila Crichton, Stockton

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Aside from wondering what kind of snake the cyclist ran over on the Katy Trail (“Remember That Time Everything Went Perfectly,” May 2026), I also wonder if author Matt Crossman had a feeling of remorse. Snakes have an even worse reputation than certain politicians, and in one of these cases it is totally undeserved.

—Don Harter, Columbia

—Patty Lebedzinski, New Waverly, Texas

Missouri Life owner and author of the article, Danita Allen Wood, still pronounces it “Mə-əzuər-ə.”

—Editors No to Neon

D O N H A RT E R

Readers' Reflections

I read your article about pronouncing Missouri [“EE Versus UH,” MissouriLife. com/ee-versus-uh].

I grew up in northern Missouri, and until I moved to Texas, I never heard Missouri pronounced with an “ee” on the end. I have to say it saddens me when I hear someone mispronounce my home state’s name. I know it sounds a bit childish to be offended by something so small, but I love my state. It represents so much to me! Everything that becomes new and modernized does not lend to the feeling of home, warmth, and memories.

My Missouri raising still has a hold on my heart.

I was totally turned off by the [February 2026] issue devoted to Route 66. All of the garish memorabilia and horrible neon signs are not my cup of tea. I think of all of that neon as sources of light pollution, not anything artistic or beautiful.

Therefore, I was glad to see that the May 2026 issue included the articles “Kirksville’s Cosmic Center” and “Stargazing in Our State.” When I was a child growing up in Shelbyville, we always saw the stars and took

MissouriLife.com

BEFORE

them for granted. Having lived in dozens of places since those days, I am now very aware of light pollution and of the rarity of seeing stars at night. I wholeheartedly support more articles about the outdoors and how we can influence it for better (decreasing light pollution and finding peace in nature) or for worse (glorifying giant neon signs).

Thank you for your consideration.

—Jane Ralls, Hannibal

Yes to Route 66

I really enjoyed your issue on Route 66 and Tara Clarkson’s article, “66 Stops on Route 66,” February 2026.

When I was eight years old in 1956, my dad decided we needed to take a trip out west, starting from our home in St. Louis.

We traveled down 66 to California, stopping at Howard Johnson Motels every night. As one prone to car sickness, I slept a lot. We had a brand new Buick with air conditioning and power windows. I would fall asleep with the window open, and they would close it from the front controls and turn on the AC! But I do remember the major stops: the Petrified Forest National Park, the Meteor Crater, trading posts, etc. We visited Disneyland (newly opened), San Francisco, and then proceeded north to the drivethrough redwood tree, Oregon, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, the Wisconsin Dells ...

6,000 miles in 3 weeks!

I moved back to the St. Louis area after living in California for 30 years. I have driven many times from California to St. Louis on Interstate 40 and 44, seeing many of the

familiar places that I saw on that first trip.

So thank you again for your wonderful special issue. Oh, and my partner Jill had a family reunion in Cuba (actually Steelville, as that was her father’s hometown), and she stayed at the Wagon Wheel and ate at Mo Hicks!

—Kerry McGill, Saint Albans

You can obtain this special Route 66 issue at MissouriLife.com/shop.

Loving Lorry

First off, love your column and the way you write. I am an attorney whose practice has focused upon adoptions and guardianship for the kids in care all across our great state of Missouri. I say this in court all the time: “Foster parents are my favorite people in the world.”

Your story about your foster kids [“What you best day?” January 2026] really hit home. As you often touch upon in your stories, this is a journey for us all.

Your story about driving a distance in snow through Central Illinois [“A Blizzard, a Bar, and Basketball,” February 2026] also hit home. I had a very similar experience driving from Wisconsin back to St. Louis with my eldest daughter, a nine-hour drive that lasted 16 hours on Interstate 55. Our haven was a hotel in Litchfield, Illinois, just off the highway. No bar or restaurant, but tons of people in the same boat, or sled, as us, with orderedin Domino’s Pizza (God bless the delivery people) and hauled in 30 packs of beer. Not a stranger in the room that night.

—John R. Bird, Webster Groves

Readers Respond Write to us

Adding More Context

Well, you found the secret spot in the Arcadia Valley [“Do It All, Plus Pickleball,” October 2025], one we enjoy visiting every time we visit family in the Arcadia Valley.

Pickle & Perk is a true diamond in the rough, and your article in Missouri Life will surely help increase WUD࠶F QRW RQO\ WR WKH HVWDEOLVKPHQW but also to the valley itself.

Keep up the good work. There are a lot of diamonds just like Pickle & Perk throughout the state (especially along US Highway 160), and they are all true Missouri gems … just sayin’.

“Shifting the Shape of Our State” [October 2025] by Ron Soodalter discusses the Platte Purchase in northwest Missouri. He writes “the Indian Removal Act, a draconian law that President Andrew Jackson had ramrodded through Congress in 1830.” The Smithsonian Magazine of 2018 has a broader perspective: “How Native American Slaveholders Complicate the Trail of Tears Narrative.”

“What you probably don’t picture are Cherokee slaveholders, foremost among them Cherokee chief John Ross.

What you probably don’t picture are the numerous African-American slaves, Cherokee-owned, who made the brutal march themselves, or else were shipped en masse to what is now Oklahoma aboard cramped boats by their wealthy Indian masters. And what you may not know is that the federal policy of Indian removal, which ranged far beyond the Trail of Tears and the Cherokee, was not simply the vindictive scheme of Andrew Jackson, but rather a popularly endorsed, congressionally sanctioned campaign spanning the administrations of nine separate presidents.”

Rarely is history simple.

— Tony Dolle, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee

— Charles Shoup, Kansas City

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MissouriLife.com

Danita Wood, I have read the latest Missouri Life and the articles that you and your husband, Greg Wood, wrote about your father and his cat [“The Gift of a Pet,” November/December 2025] DQG KRZ WKHUH UHDOO\ LV ORYH DW ࠸UVW sight [“Love at First Sight,” November/ December 2025].

I wanted to thank you for sharing these wonderful stories, especially about your father. My Dad had a cat, Peanuts, that would only be around when my Dad was and only let my Dad play with him. Love your magazine, and again, so appreciative of the two articles.

Just wanted to tell you how much your story [“My Husband’s Hymnal”

by Andrea Kaneko, May 2026] blessed me! My first marriage was not what it should’ve been. I had a baby girl, and that has been the highlight out of that. God blessed me with her and my second marriage with a Christian partner. He and I both think of the what ifs … if we had been together from the start. What a blessing to share vulnerability with someone who really is our other half. Thank you for reminding me that it happens. May you and your family continue to be blessed!

— Ron Franklin, St. Charles

Info@MissouriLife.com Missouri Life Magazine @MissouriLifeMag

—June Jones, Pollard, Arkansas

Crying with a Column Lorry, I cried a little, as usual, as I read your story [“What You Best Day,” January 2026]. I love all of your stories. I’m a teacher, so I have seen kiddos with life situations that seem terribly unfair. I’ve tried to make their lives a little better.

My husband died shortly before yours did. I have felt a close connection to you.

Thank you for sharing.

— Joan Obermark, Washington, Missouri

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI, GREG WOOD, HOOT DESIGN

Missouri Life 208 Columbia Street PO Boxx 57 Rocheport, MO 65279

Speaking of a Hidden Spot

Bless You!

Commending Columns

Info@MissouriLife.com Missouri Life Magazine @MissouriLife @MissouriLifeMag

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DINING Department AFTER

DINING

BEFORE

Where the y River Is a Famil Tradition

History in the Baking

DINING

Patties With a Side of Patriotism

Owners Eli Hoeckele and Leslie Hoeckele-Esselman

E

ver since the doors to Hoeckele’s Bakery & Deli opened, one of four generations of the Hoeckele family has donned the title of owner. Brothers Paul Hoeckele Sr. and Joseph Hoeckele started the Perryville business at its first location on Jackson Street in 1937, serving doughnuts, pastries, bread, coffee cakes, and cookies.

Hoeckele’s continued to grow, and in 2006, it was moved to a bigger building.

In 2024, cousins Eli Hoeckele and Leslie Hoeckele-Esselman took the helm.

Eli has fond memories of spending middle school evenings helping his dad, Paul Hoeckele III, at the family business. He continued working there throughout high school and returned after college.

Now Hoeckele’s offers deli sandwiches, iced lattes, fruit smoothies, and bespoke wedding cakes. “We make everything from scratch,” Eli says. While these new offerings have been

In addition to its donuts, Hoeckele's Bakery & Deli and muffins, pies, danishes, and sweet rolls.

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f owner Chaz Koeppen and her partner Matt Gann are strangers to you now, they won’t be after you find yourself at a table at Cafe B-29, located in Ozark.

They’ll probably greet you faster than you can open your menu.

As you walk into the cafe, a feeling of patriotism may emerge as hundreds of veterans meet your gaze from the photographs that line the walls.

The dream of opening a cafe with vintage military decor was fueled by Chaz and Matt’s memories.

“We sat on our front porch and got to talking about our grandfathers,” Chaz says. Her grandfather was a World War II veteran, and Matt’s grandfather rode in a tank in Korea.

“Grandma had brought by a bunch of older pictures of Grandpa in a shoebox,” Matt says, “and it just kind of struck me as odd. Grandpa was a huge part of my life growing up, and you know how many people just take this old shoebox of photos and put it in the closet.”

Ever since Chaz opened the restaurant eight years ago, people have traveled from near and far to add their relatives’ pictures on the wall. Chaz has also

woven into the Hoeckele’s tapestry, loyal customers come back time and time again for two of the bakery’s most famous treats: the glazed doughnuts and its signature peanut coffee cake.

“If there’s a wedding going on in Perryville, people have peanut coffee cakes there,” Eli says. “If there’s a family gathering, if there’s a holiday event, you’re going to see those peanut coffee cakes.” The peanut coffee cake is still packaged the same, wrapped in a waxy paper shell and taped shut.

Working in tandem, the frosting’s sweetness pairs nicely with the saltiness of the peanut pieces. It is not crumbly and can easily be dunked into a cup of coffee. For optimal control over how much frosting you get, open the package upside down. After cutting a piece, you can scrape as little or as much frosting as you’d like from the wax paper.

If you’re looking for something that’s a bit sweeter, try Hoeckele’s glazed doughnut.

While there are all sorts of doughnuts to choose from at the bakery, like blueberry cake doughnuts and Bavarian cream-filled short johns, the real star of the show is the original glazed doughnut. The doughnuts, Eli says, are “one thing that people travel from all over the place for.”

The hexagon-shaped glazed doughnut has a melt-in-your-mouth glaze that crackles across its surface as you bite into it. You might want to use a knife and fork, or you might just want to pick it up so you can lick the melted glaze off your fingers when you’re done.

1516 Edgemont Boulevard, Suite 10, Perryville HoeckeleBakery.com

16

Share a story, honor veterans, and try a meal at Cafe B-29.

I

Story by Emma Zawacki

been given military uniforms, plane replicas, and Purple Hearts. She spends her Sundays pulling out the ladder and Tetris-ing together new artifacts they’ve been given among the existing ones along the museum-like walls. The collection includes keepsakes from WWII and the Vietnam War. As if the mementos weren’t intriguing enough—you could spend a whole day soaking up the history—the smell of the food drifting from the kitchen will get your stomach rumbling and have you heading for a table.

Chaz and Matt take great pride in curating their menu. It is packed with clever nods to US military history with items like the Normandy French Dip, the USO Hot Ham & Cheese, and The B-29 Crew’s Buffalo Chicken Sandwich.

“We decided to go old-school diner foods,” Chaz says. “We’ll cut about 16 five-gallon buckets of fresh fries a day.

We hand batter our catfish. We make our slaw from scratch.”

“The Popper Burger is probably most popular,” Matt says. “My mom came up with this recipe for a popper dip, and we thought that’d be great on a burger.

It took off, took us to the World Food Championships in Dallas several years back. It’s been really, really popular.”

You can smell the fan-favorite Jalapeño Popper Burger before you see it. Delivered in a basket that is draped in a red-and-white checkered liner, the half-pound burger patty lying on a bun is paired with pepper jack cheese, bacon, and jalapeño popper dip. The bacon is a perfect partner to the spicy bite of the dip, the heat flavorful without being overpowering. You’ll reach for another bite before you reach for your napkin.

The thick-cut fries are soft all the way through with just the right amount of salt and are the perfect vessel to scoop up the popper dip that escapes from the burger. The homemade ranch is a must try, with a finger-licking dill taste that will make you wish it was bottled to take home.

Cafe B-29 satisfies two missions: it offers comfort food for communities to gather around, and it provides a space where veterans are honored.

1751 West State Highway J, Ozark Cafe B-29 on Facebook The Ultimate Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich is topped with smoked ham, pineapple, jalapeño popper dip, and sweet chili sauce.

A free Veterans Day breakfast is one of the many special events that take place at Cafe B-29.

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From left, Matt Gann and owner Chaz Koeppen stand in front of a memorabilia wall.

MissouriLife.com

BEFORE BOILING SPRINGS CAMPGROUND Dixon, MO DINING

H O EC KE LE ’S B A KE RY & D E LI

By Emma Zawacki | Info@MissouriLife.com

CAFE B-29

A family-run Perryville bakery is filled with tasty treats.

The restaurant is housed in a historic mill that once produced White Pearl Flour and Lucky Hard Wheat Flour.

German An admiration for the great outdoors isn’t just business for BSC Outdoo in Hermann

Gasconade River spanning more than a hundred years, the Helms family’s

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Top, the restaurant serves spirits from local distilleries, including Hermann Farm Distillery.

Bottom, the Pork Schnitzel is served with two sides.

County runs deep. It’s a love they’re ready to share with you as you float se Story and photos by Andrea Kaneko

H

ermann bleeds German; its German is one of those recognizable German heritage dates back to 1837 when dishes,” Justin says. “German food is German immigrants settled in the town. very simple but has lots of layers.”

The atmosphere of the Tin Mill is Now, fingerprints of the town’s rich history can be found in its architecture, classy and elevated with bud flowers in music, shopping, festivals, and, of vases dotting the white-clothed tables, yet it also has a rustic, cozy charm that course, food.

The Tin Mill Restaurant, a comfort permeates through the floor-to-ceiling food restaurant located downtown, wooden interior. The Pork Schnitzel offers time-tested entrées that have is a mirror to this juxtaposition of its made Hermann an epicenter of German high-end and homey atmosphere. The cuisine in Missouri. The restaurant, entrée may look like a serving of a housed in a three-story mill built in the grandmother’s supper; however, after 1840s along the Missouri River and Union diving into the meal, diners will find a Pacific Railroad, makes most of its menu refined flavor profile. The pork cutlet items from scratch. The Tin Mill is part of looks unassuming—a bit like a pork a larger set of Hermannhof businesses, tenderloin served at a rural diner—but including The Inn at Hermannhof, a set as your teeth cut through its golden, of luxury rooms in a historic inn along encrusted exterior, the flavors of the the Missouri River; the Tin Mill Brewery succulent pork lift in your mouth. The Co., a brewery that produces craft beers savory taste builds to a peak, then and authentic German lagers; and plummets as you swallow. The recipe Pulaski County Sept 2026FINAL Ad Approval.indd Hermannhof Winery, a producer of both for the1 cutlet’s crust is simple: egg, white and red wines and America’s only flour, salt, pepper, and parsley. The winery to be a two-time winner of the pork is the definition of home cooking that warms the soul and stomach.

Brown-Forman Trophy.

The pork is paired with a dill gravy The restaurant’s star GermanAmerican menu item, according to dipping sauce. The gravy has a bite of Justin Lieser, the Tin Mill Restaurant’s sourness that further livens the meat. chief operations officer, is the house- The entrée is served with a side of red made Pork Schnitzel entrée which cabbage, which is cooked with apple features pork cutlet, braised red cider and Chambourcin wine, which cabbage, German potato salad, and dill is produced by Hermannhof Winery. gravy. “Schnitzel is big in Germany and It is slowly cooked to keep its rich 24

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Scan the QR code to learn more a the Helms family and Ozarks wat Plan your outdoor adventure toda at pulaskicountyusa.com. purple coloring. “People just say, ‘Wow,’ because it has lots of color,” Justin says. Served alongside the cabbage is German potato salad. Unlike traditional creamy mayonnaise-based potato salad that we are accustomed to in American cuisine, the German potato salad at The Tin Mill packs a sour punch that awakens the taste buds. For a satisfying mixture of crunchy and soft textures, try eating the cabbage and potato salad together.

Besides the Pork Schnitzel, the restaurant has a rotating seasonal menu, which has included sauerbraten (a German pot roast), roasted chicken pot pie, a 10-ounce prime rib, and potato pancakes.

If you journey to Missouri’s Germany, guten Appetit!

FEATURES BEFORE

T he man who killed

A mericans love their outlaws, perhaps Jesse James most of

all. Most Missourians will know Jesse was shot in the back of the head in his home in St. Joseph. The killing of Jesse James may have ended his story—but it started another one. Over the next several years, a grim sequence of retribution, obsession, and violence claimed several lives and injured a lawman.

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Robert Ford, inspired by the promise of amnesty and reward money, is the man who killed Jesse, thus ending his 17-year reign as a thief and murderer and ensuring Jesse’s place as America’s favorite badman.

But things did not turn out as 20-year-old Bob Ford had hoped after he shot his gang chieftain, Jesse James, in the head on April 3, 1882.

The Missouri governor had promised amnesty and a $10,000 reward, and Bob had anticipated a hero’s reception; after all, he had rid America of a bandit who had killed several unarmed men in his outlaw career.

Yet Jesse’s whitewashed image as America’s Robin Hood was prevalent in newspapers, dime novels, songs, and stories of the time, and it was to this image that the public clung. Americans would never forgive Bob for

killing their favorite wayward son.

At the time he was slain, Jesse was living in St. Joseph with his wife and two children under the alias Thomas J. Howard. Shortly after the outlaw’s demise, an obscure minstrel composed a ballad glorifying Jesse and vilifying his killer as “the dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard, and laid poor Jesse in his grave.”

The song quickly gained national popularity, and its message seemed to follow Bob wherever he went.

Expecting to be feted as the man who had rid America of an infamous criminal, he was gobsmacked to find himself shunned wherever he went.

Stubbornly refusing to hide his identity by changing his name, he soldiered on.

Bob and his brother Charlie were essentially gypped of the

reward money, getting about $500 each instead of the promoted $10,000 bounty they expected to share, after the sheriff, police commissioner, and other government agents took a cut. Charlie was right beside Bob when he fired the fatal shot, mainly providing moral support.

Deprived of the reward they felt they had fairly earned, the brothers accepted a promoter’s offer to present their story on stage.

Illuminated by gaslight in venues such as Kansas City, Chicago, Boston, and Brooklyn, night after night, they reenacted the infamous event, often drowned out by the audience’s constant boos and catcalls.

Finally, they got the message and abandoned their acting careers.

Charlie, 26 years old and suffering from a combination of tuberculosis, morphine

addiction, and guilt, was terrified by the rumor that Jesse’s brother Frank James planned to seek vengeance.

Charlie took his own life just two years after Jesse’s death.

Not only was Bob shunned for having shot Jesse, he was vilified for shooting him in the back of the head. This was not unusual in that time and place. Common sense dictated that anyone wishing to kill an expert gunman would be foolish to give an intended victim the chance to shoot back.

This was proven time and again, with the murders of such frontier notables as James “Wild Bill” Hickok and John Wesley Hardin, to name just a couple who were shot in the back.

In fact, although face-toface gunfights have long been the mainstay of western movies, they were rare in the late 1800s. In shooting

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BEFORE

A muddy river adventure is filled with newfound friends and farm-fresh food.

Story and photos by Matt Fox Info@MissouriLife.com

T

“

his is Big Muddy Adventures, not a small, clean, easy trip,” lead guide Pete Nagel’s voice booms, silencing the low murmur of an eager crowd. We’re gathered near a boat ramp in Sioux Passage Park in Florissant, watching the Missouri River rip past at a brisk clip. Huge logs, some as long as the 30-foot canoes we will ride, sail past eddies in the turbid water. These aren’t conditions for a relaxing canoe trip. These are conditions for an adventure.

A gust of wind bursts through the cottonwoods high above us, dislodging a scattering of fluffy cottonwood seeds that swirl around us like snow. “Look down at your shoes and wave goodbye.

They will never, ever be the same,” Pete says.

This Big Muddy Full Moon Float, an evening paddle that takes place during the full moon with a two-hour stop for dinner, begins at its end, our cars waiting in the parking lot for us when we return. The temperature is in the mid-60s, and I feel comfortable in my tank top.

It is now 4 ࣑ࢾ, and our voyage is scheduled to conclude by 10 ࣑ࢾ, but Pete reminds us that the moment we board these vans, we’ll be on “river time,” in reference to how time flows differently on the water. This adventure will take as long as it takes.

We are driven upstream to our put-in site at Blanchette Landing in St. Charles. Here the river looks wider and less debris filled. We disembark and form a loose semicircle, awkwardly acknowledging the strangers we’ll be shoulder to shoulder with for the next several hours. Part of the Big Muddy experience is the natural camaraderie that inevitably forms among guests on an adventure together. As I look from person to person, it’s impossible to miss the smiles that are forming as the small talk and laughter grow—the bonding has begun.

The sky is blue, and the cool breeze coming off the water is refreshing, even exhilarating. Still, the constant shuffling of the guests’ feet betrays an anxious energy.

Guide Mark “Malko” Malkowicz is already at the put-in when we arrive. I am told he wanted to work tonight even though it was his day off. He sets about hauling the gear to the canoes as he converses with the other guides about weight distribution. Another guide, Lucy Shea Faulkingham Jr., who is also our shuttle driver, is backing the huge trailer down the mud-slick boat ramp. It’s surprising how quickly the guides load the boats with paddles, dry bags, and coolers. Then Pete is strolling over to us bearing a colossal bag of life jackets. The only thing that isn’t ready is us.

The Beat of River Time The safety talk begins with a life jacket fitting, to be worn “snug as Grandma’s hug,” followed by a brief paddling lesson. It’s revealed that no Big Muddy vessel has ever capsized in the entire history of the operation, and Pete is clearly thrilled to inform us they practice flipping and recovering the canoes every year, in winter no less. The guides eye each other with knowing grins. Some adventures are just for them, it seems.

“Keep your eye on the paddler in front of you, match their strokes, and stay on beat,” Pete says.

The message is clear: The trip will be more than 17 miles, and if we want to make it to the end with our arms and our spirits intact, we need to step up and do the work.

And then we’re ready to begin.

In less than five minutes, all 18 passengers are aboard the two canoes, each with one guide at the backend of the vessel. Clearly, this outfit is a well-oiled machine. I am placed at the front of our canoe. Our first tentative strokes propel us out into the swirling eddies. “And a one and a two and a three,” Pete calls out the beat for us to match our strokes to. Eventually, we settle into an easy rhythm. And soon, it’s second nature. I lift my eyes from my paddle to see the swifts and swallows coursing alongside us, catching mosquitoes stirred up by the wake of our craft. Their calls fall in time with the beat in my head. And a one and a two and a three.

My breathing slows. I feel the warm sun on my skin and the occasional cool spray of river water.

It smells pungent, like fish and algae and something earthy I can’t quite name. The river carries us while we propel ourselves. I’m caught up in my surroundings. So this is river time.

The Bridge to the Beach In what feels like moments later, we are at our midway stopping point, Sycamore Beach, on river right, a Florissant put-in that has been host to hundreds of guests, guides, and school groups over

Each of the seven Big Muddy Adventures’ voyageur canoes, which are handcrafted in Canada, hold up to 12 passengers. Voyageur canoes were originally used to transport goods.

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8

AFTER

Small Towns with

AFTER

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••••••••••••Blue Eye••••••••••• Nestled on the border of Missouri and Arkansas, Blue Eye is a town in two states.

It also has multiple legends as to how it got its name.

One legend states that the town’s name was based on its first postmaster, Elbert Butler, who was blue-eyed. Others claim Butler had heterochromia—one brown and one blue eye—which contributed to the name. Another legend states it was one of Butler’s daughters who gave the town its name, since he had several brown-eyed daughters but only one blue-eyed

Unusual Names

daughter. When a settler was naming the town, he looked at the blue-eyed daughter and said they should call it Blue Eye. Yet another legend holds that the name was derived from blue-eyed grass, a spring flower native to Missouri.

Today, Blue Eye is one community split across state lines, with around 300 residents on the Missouri side and about 45 on the Arkansas side. Blue Eye is surrounded by the natural beauty of the Ozarks, such as at Pine Ridge Pass in Mark Twain National Forest.

3

•••••Climax Springs••••• Originally named Climax by its first post office, in 1886, the village later became known as Climax Springs. Legend has it that it was named so because a settler, upon discovering a local mineral spring, said, “That caps the climax!” The area drew tourists for its mineral-rich waters.

The now-unincorporated community of Climax Springs offers a peaceful location close enough to enjoy everything the Lake of the Ozarks has to offer while tucked away from lake traffic. It is home to almost 120 residents, and the spring it was named for is still actively flowing, located at Climax Springs Natural Spring Hill Park. Locals and visitors like to visit Feed Bucket Cafe for home-style meals and Oh Tommy’s Bar and Grill, eight miles west of Climax Springs, for pub fare.

Every town has a story, and sometimes, the story is in its name.

Missouri may have more than its share of unusual place names. The names of these towns have puzzled travelers and delighted road trippers for generations.

Others invite a second look—or a laugh. While their names grab attention, the stories behind them are often even more interesting. Here are 10 towns that prove a memorable name is only the beginning.

BEFORE

4

Story by Emma Zawacki ▶ Info@MissouriLife.com and Tara Clarkson ▶ Tara@MissouriLife.com Illustrations by Rachel Goodbee ▶ Rachel@MissouriLife.com

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•••••Conception Junction•••••

•••••••••Bland•••••••••

Conception Junction is located in Nodaway County in the northwest part of the state. But before it was the town of Conception Junction, it was the settlement of Conception. The area had been settled by Irish and German Catholics, and in 1864, it was named after the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, a tenet of Catholicism and other Christian denominations.

In 1880, the Wabash Railroad was extended through the area, and the original settlement became Old Conception, while the newer part of the settlement on

The town of Bland, located southeast of Jefferson City, was named after Congressman Richard P. Bland, better known as “Silver Dick.”

He was a lawyer and served roughly 25 years as a congressman.

Bland is remembered for the Bland-Allison Act. He and Senator William B. Allison of Iowa proposed an act requiring the US Treasury to purchase between $2 and $4 million worth of silver to be minted into silver dollars and placed in circulation. The act passed, but the bill was vetoed by President Rutherford B. Hayes. Congress overrode the veto in 1878.

Bland, incorporated as a city in 1902, is now home to 506 residents. In town is the Killin’ Time bar and Granny’s Cafe. If you’d like to spend some time in nature, nearby are Canaan Conservation Area and Rock Island Trail State Park.

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the other side of the tracks became New Conception. By 1895, the Chicago Great Western Railroad also crossed town, and New Conception became officially platted as Conception Junction. By the 1980s, both railroads were abandoned and removed.

Today, 177 people live in Conception Junction. To the west of the town, the Platte River flows. For the outdoorsy type, Mozingo Lake Recreation Park is 10 miles away. You can visit nearby Conception Abbey, formed in 1873 by Benedictine monks, known for its murals.

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AFTER

Hermann

Ste. Genevieve

Missouri’s Wine Country

French Colonial History on the Mississippi River BEFORE Ste. Genevieve was ranked second among small towns, with a score of 13.8%. Respondents were enthusiastic about its downtown shops and surrounding parks.

Ste. Genevieve is the oldest permanent European settlement in Missouri. Founded by French-Canadian settlers around 1735, the picturesque town sits on the west bank of the Mississippi River, and its historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, features 18th-century French Creole architecture.

Attractions Caption

H

ermann was by far the favorite small town among respondents, with a score of 33.7%. Respondents showed great enthusiasm for this town’s historic character, dining and local food scene, and hospitality and visitor experience.

Founded in 1837 by German immigrants who felt at home in the Missouri River Valley, Hermann has a landscape reminiscent of the Rhineland region in Europe, with its rolling hills

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and river views. Today, the town of 2,185 is still producing some of the best wine in the Midwest.

Attractions Stone Hill Winery, the oldest winery in the state, founded in 1847, has free tours through North America’s largest series of historic underground vaulted limestone cellars, naturally maintained at 45- to 55-degrees year-round. The tour ends at the tasting room, where a paid tasting of Stone Hill’s award-winning wines is available.

Adam Puchta Winery, established in 1855, is the oldest continuously owned family farm winery in the United States, drawing a devoted crowd to the Frene Creek Valley. Here visitors can enjoy live music along with a meal of brats, pork schnitzel, and potato

pancakes. Paid wine tastings come with a souvenir wine glass.

Hermannhof Winery has 10 stone cellars and a charming brick superstructure; it is one of 100 buildings in Hermann that are on the National Register of Historic Places. The winery has a free self-guided cellar tour and paid wine tastings.

Food and Drink The award-winning Hermann Wurst Haus is a popular restaurant, offering traditional German fare, such as bratwurst, sauerkraut, and German potato salad. In the original carriage house and barn at Stone Hill Winery is the Vintage 1847 Restaurant, serving German and American favorites. The Tin Mill Restaurant, located in a historic mill, serves steaks, seafood, and German comfort food.

Lodging

Caption

Reader’s comment

“The wineries are worth the trip. From family-owned to world-renowned. First-class wines that rival the best in California and have more of a European style, from the driest of dry to sweet. There’s nothing like sitting in the Hermann countryside, sipping on a glass of wine made from Missourigrown grapes that speak of the region’s terroir!”

The Inn at Hermannhof has a reputation as one of the most romantic stays in town, with vineyard views, fireplaces, and a tasting room steps from the door. Hermann Crown Suites, a Victorian-era hotel built in 1899, blends historic elegance with modern comforts.

The town’s French colonial heritage is shared with visitors at its local museums. The Ste. Genevieve Museum traces the community’s origins. The Felix Vallé House State Historic Site illuminates what daily life was like for early colonists, and the Louis Bolduc House and LeMeilleur House showcase French Creole culture through interactive exhibits.

The town’s central square is home to antique stores, boutiques, and candy shops. ASL Pewter is a standout shop, featuring goods crafted by local artisans Tom and Pat Hooper, whose work celebrates Ste. Genevieve’s history, legend, and culture.

Food and Drink Located in the same downtown building since 1855, the Anvil Saloon & Restaurant has stood the test of time, still delivering home-cooked comfort food. Be sure to check out the ornate back bar that was shipped into Ste. Genevieve by steamboat in the 1850s. For fine dining, the Audubon’s Restaurant & Hotel, housed in a 1901 building, serves French, Cajun, German, and Italian cuisines.

Lodging Audubon’s Restaurant and Hotel provides lodging that matches Ste. Genevieve’s sense of history and atmosphere displayed through the artwork of

John James Audubon, a naturalist and ornithologist who came to the town in 1812.

Hikers can follow along the same paths that Audubon walked and, as he said, “follow Nature in her walks.”

Outdoor Activities Ste. Genevieve sits along the Great River Road, a National Scenic Byway that follows the Mississippi River and is known for its sweeping river views.

Nature lovers will also enjoy Hawn State Park, home to Missouri’s only native pine tree, the shortleaf pine.

Reader’s comment

“In addition to the shops, restaurants, and museums in Ste. Genevieve, there’s Hawn State Park, Hickory Canyon Natural Area, and Pickle Springs. It’s great to go hiking and then eat in Ste. Genevieve.”

Outdoor Activities No visit to Hermann is complete without a walk or bike ride on the Katy Trail.

Running 240 miles across the state and winding along the Missouri River, the Katy Trail State Park is the longest recreational rail trail in the United States. Hermann is one of the most popular stops along the trail.

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POUR DECISIONS Column AFTER

PourD E C I S I O N S

BEFORE

Small Is Still Beautiful

decisions

A Cold Beer Conversation +DoJPMD M@RN

I

t is undeniable that the world of wine is snobbish. It’s the most annoying characteristic of wine enthusiasts: whatever bottle they are enthused about is, ipso facto, gre`at wine. The unfortunate corollary is that, if the wine you’re enthused about is unknown to them, it is, by definition, less interesting than the wine they like. It’s not true of all wine people, but it is with enough of them that it’s a reasonable cliché. And with tens of thousands of wines in the market, wine drinkers choose their passions like humans do; we call these fads. For instance, for a few years the sparkling wine of the moment was Prosecco. Today, British fizz is cool (yes, they make really good sparkling wine there).

These infatuations change like shoe styles and fall sweater colors. But one thing remains steadfast: wine lovers think that small wineries are better than big ones.

In truth, it’s an irrational notion.

A big winery can make good wine or boring wine, just like a small winery. It’s the agricultural reality of grape growing and winemaking that lends itself to the idea that small places are somehow more authentic, that being small means winemakers can attend more

Sip and savor some thoughts on Missouri beer.

Story by Doug Frost | Doug@MissouriLife.com

issouri’s importance in American history is due to more than its position in the middle of the country; St. Louis is at the intersection of the mighty Mississippi and the wide Missouri, which are fed by other dominant rivers like the Illinois, Kansas, Osage, and Ohio. As a young nation dependent on river transportation, the United States needed a city to support that commerce. St. Louis emerged in the Midwest to fill that role.

The list of historical figures who were born or grew up here is instructive: Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker, Yogi Berra, Chuck Berry, Joseph Henry “T Bone” Burnett, William S. Burroughs, William Clark (you know, of Lewis & Clark), Miles Davis, T.S. Eliot, Ulysses S. Grant, Scott Joplin, Vincent Price, Dred Scott, Ike and Tina Turner, and William Tecumseh Sherman (about whom Americans should know more, but that’s for another day). That’s a very partisan list, but those names are crucial to our culture. For our drinking purposes, we will focus on two Missouri beer pioneers: Anheuser-Busch and Boulevard Brewery.

The Anheuser-Busch story is well told, especially for Missourians. When it first began, its brewing blended in with numerous other breweries in the state.

In 1875, there were more than a thousand saloons pouring suds to a town

54

of about 325,000 and about three-dozen breweries scattered in the city. Yet, co-owners Eberhard Anheuser and his son-in-law, Adolphus Busch, revolutionized the industry by creating a system that pasteurized and delivered the beer in refrigerated railcars. This led to beer being able to travel beyond city limits.

The company became numero uno in the industry and stayed atop the ranks until it was nabbed in a hostile bid in 2008 and became Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Belgium.

Boulevard Brewery, founded by John McDonald, was the second biggest brewery in Missouri. After becoming successful, it was scooped up by Duvel Moortgat Brewery, also of Belgium.

The ebb of Missouri’s beer biz saw beer’s worldwide consolidation through the 20th century, but the flow was unleashed by Boulevard. Today, there are 160-plus breweries in the state, but the craft wave that many have surfed is crashing, at least for some. More breweries closed last year than opened in the United States. In Kansas City alone, this included Boho, Double Shift, Red Sash, Nimble, and The Big Rip. For some of us ardent fans, the closure of Crane Brewing in Raytown was the cruelest cut of all. St. Louis lost Ferguson Brewing and Earthbound Beer, as well as the Schlafly

St. Charles location; Schlafly is as much a pioneer as Boulevard has been.

Yet, there are still so many breweries in big cities throughout the state that have made the state’s beer as celebrated as any in the country.

The headwinds are real: people are drinking less alcohol, going out less, and partying less, it would seem. But the people who have populated Missouri’s 21st-century explosion of beer are in it for the love of the suds. They’ll continue to brew because that’s what gives them joy, and the state is better for it.

Some Amazing Beers to Try 4 Hands Brewing Co., The Devil’s Invention BKS Pivo Project, Bavarian-Style Pilsner Boulevard Brewing Co., Saison Brett KC Bier Co., Dunkel Mother’s Brewing Co., Materfamilias Narrow Gauge Brewing Co., King Fallen Flag Perennial Artisan Ales, Maman

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Schlafly, Crisp IPA Side Project Brewing, Anabasis

MissouriLife.com

BEFORE

decisions

The Cocktail Trail T

By Doug Frost Doug@MissouriLife.com

Doug Frost lives in Kansas City and is one of only three people in the world to hold both Master Sommelier and Master of Wine titles, which involve passing rigorous tests, including blind tastings. He is a beverage connoisseur.

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here was a cocktail revolution in the 1990s and 2000s. It happened around the time the cosmopolitan (a cocktail that is made of vodka, RUDQJH ࡽDYRUHG OLTXHXU OLPH MXLFH DQG FUDQEHUU\ MXLFH UXOHG WKH VFHQH FRXUWHV\ RI Sex and the City, when even Madonna was caught drinking the pink cocktail. It then launched through the JD\ EDUV RI 6DQ )UDQFLVFR DQG 1HZ <RUN DQG LQWR FOXEV HYHU\ZKHUH <RX PLJKW KDYH PLVVHG WKH ULVH RI WKLV FRFNWDLO EXW \RX VXUHO\ EHQHࡼWHG IURP LW HYHQ LI \RX RQO\ HQMR\ WKH RFFDVLRQDO GULQN 7KLV FRFNWDLO ERRP KLW 0LVVRXUL WRR %RWK .DQVDV &LW\ DQG 6W /RXLV VDZ WKH ULVH RI EDUV IRFXVHG RQ KDQGPDGH FRFNWDLOV 7RGD\ PDQ\ EDUV RಀHU IUHVK LQJUHGLHQWV IRU FRFNWDLOV EXW WKLV ZDVQȆW DOZD\V WKH FDVH %HIRUH WKH FRFNWDLO UHYROXWLRQ HYHU\WKLQJ FDPH IURP D ȉEDU JXQ Ȋ D SXVK EXWWRQ mechanism connected to a metal hose leading to D VSLJRW WKDW GLVSHQVHV VRGD DQG IUXLW MXLFH 7RGD\ PDQ\ EDUV KDYH UHDO OHPRQV DQG OLPHV VTXHH]HG WR PDNH WKHLU MXLFHV $ FRPPLWPHQW WR IUHVKQHVV SHUYDGHV WKH HQWLUH EDU DQG UHVWDXUDQW LQGXVWU\ 0LVVRXUL HYHQ KHOSHG OHDG WKH FKDUJH 6W /RXLV KDV KLVWRULFDOO\ KDG D UREXVW FRFNWDLO VFHQH DQG LW FRQWLQXHV WRGD\ /HJHQGDU\ EDUWHQGHUV OLNH 'DOH 'H*URಀ DQG VSLULWV ZULWHUV OLNH 'DYLG :RQGULFK YLVLWHG 6W /RXLV DQG .DQVDV &LW\ WR WDVWH VSLULWV and top spirits professionals participated in the .DQVDV &LW\ FRFNWDLO FRPSHWLWLRQV EHJLQQLQJ LQ *UHDW EDUWHQGHUV OLNH 7HG .LOJRUH DORQJ with many others, upgraded the craft and spurred WKH XSWLFN RI PRUH XSVFDOH EDUV ,Q .DQVDV &LW\ 5\DQ 0D\EHH ZDV DQ HDUO\ DGRSWHU RI WKH VSHDNeasy concept with the opening of his speakeasy, 0DQLIHVWR LQ %RWK 7HG DQG 5\DQ DUH VWLOO DW ZRUN LQ WKHLU FUDIW LQ .DQVDV &LW\ $ IHZ \HDUV ODWHU WKH SUHVWLJLRXV -DPHV %HDUG $ZDUGV WXUQHG WKHLU DWWHQWLRQ WR 0LVVRXUL DQG

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Missouri has more than 130 wineries and, frankly, all of them are small, certainly by California standards. Even the largest among them, like Stone Hill or St. James, are run by family members who have cared for their land and winery for generations. The sense of the familial is inherent when you visit a local winery and, unless you are a very tiresome snob, it is a unique and even, for some of us, an emotional

By Doug Frost

Small Wineries You Should Visit Blumenhof Winery DUTZHOW

Edg-Clif Vineyard, Winery & Brewery

Noboleis Vineyards

Dale Hollow Winery

Eagles’ Landing

Musket Cellars & Vineyard

Röbller Vineyard

STOVER

46

Doug@MissouriLife.com

Defiance Ridge Vineyards DEFIANCE ST. JAMES

POTOSI

PLEASANT HILL

experience. Visiting a winery is a chance to slow down and to meet someone who has made something simply to bring you sustenance and enjoyment.

AUGUSTA

NEW HAVEN

Doug Frost lives in Kansas City and is one of only four people in the world to hold both Master Sommelier and Master of Wine titles, which means passing rigorous tests, including blind tastings. He is also a beverage connoisseur.

MissouriLife.com

Great Places to Sip Craft Cocktails Planter’s House, St. Louis Olio, St. Louis Fern Bar, Kansas City Harry’s Country Club, Kansas City

RACHEL GOODBEE

Pour

closely to all the myriad details required to turn good grapes into great wine. Perhaps.

Large, even gigantic wineries (there are fewer of these than you might think) have to make wine by adopting systems that can guide their workers’ decisions. And systems may not allow the flexibility that the best winemakers routinely employ.

Even if improved winemaking isn’t necessarily a given at a small winery, it’s undeniable that small wineries are more fun to visit. Instead of an hourly employee who might have only recently achieved drinking age, you are more often than not being hosted by a family member or even the owner.

Wine can offer a personal experience, unlike all but a few comestibles. You are speaking to the person who bought and prepared the land, who planted the vines, and waited at least a few years to see some grapes grow on those vines. And then these same people crushed the grapes and fermented them into the wine they are sharing with you in the most direct farm-toglass path you can imagine. Try that with your hamburger or milk shake.

R AC H E L G O O D B E E

Pour

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NO PLACE LIKE HOME Column AFTER

NoPlaL ce IKE HOME

BEFORE home

Lefty

I

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passed the schools and found the city center, I knew.

This town was not for me.

From the back seat, my fatherin-law spoke up and asked me exactly what I was looking for. His question was sincere, so I gave him my best short answer. I wanted a

hometown, and not so long after that, we had a baby, then another, and then another. We raised our children with my parents around the corner and my in-laws up the road. There were ballgames and bleachers, festivals and fairs, and honestly, we didn’t miss one.

Seems you are chasing the very life you are living. city filled with opportunities, a community that cares, and a culture that offers everyone a chance.

Was that too much to ask?

When the car ride was over and we were back where we belonged, my father-in-law said something quite remarkable when he got out of the back seat.

“Seems you are chasing the very life you are living. Living small doesn’t mean you can’t live big.”

That was it.

That was the last time my husband and I made a road trip to consider a move. A year later, we bought an old house in my

Small-town life has been good to me.

I know it is not for everyone.

Some people just need more: more theaters, more restaurants, more cultural opportunities. But if your heart is in the right place, a career can come true, and opportunities will come your way. A school board seat, a planning committee, a coach on a Little League team.

Living small doesn’t mean you can’t live big.

When a baby is born too soon, when a car wreck wrecks a community, when a young father dies

of cancer, or someone’s husband doesn’t make it, small towns step up. Meal trains are made, a lawn gets mowed, and people show up to show they care.

I should know.

I have no regrets about the big decision we made to live small. As a result, my children grew up with a strong sense of community, so much so that each one chose to give up their city lives and settle their families down the street and around the corner from me.

All of it, part of my Big Plan.

56 58

left. I forced the right hand to do all the things, while my left hand just hung around without a care.

I never taught freeloading lefty a thing, and now when I need it, that hand refuses to cooperate.

The spoiled brat.

I now realize that I should have been an equal opportunity hand employer and nurtured both hands to be sustainable on their own. I should have been more in touch with my left hand so it would be prepared to step up and ࡼOO LQ IRU P\ ULJKW Now here I am, something I never planned to be—a lefty.

I may be broken, but I am also blessed. I am thankful it wasn’t worse, grateful for the wake-up call, and hopeful that, moving forward, my left will work harmoniously with my right to make my world a better place.

You know, like politicians do.

By Lorry Myers Lorry@MissouriLife.com

MissouriLife.com

BEFORE

No place like

home

By Lorry Myers

Lorry@MissouriLife.com

Lorry is a small-town girl living a big life. She is the keeper of family stories, old photographs, and random things her children don’t want.

Lorry has earned several writing awards. She calls Missouri Life home and her readers new friends.

By Lorry Myers Lorry@MissouriLife.com

The Keep Pile I

called before I left, telling her that I had my work clothes on and would bring boxes to help us organize and sort.

I wasn’t looking forward to this.

After a lengthy hospital stay, my mother ࡼQDOO\ VSRNH XS 0\ IDWKHU KDG EHHQ JRQH for a few years, and now the house and all that came with it was both too much and not enough for her.

0RP ZDV UHDG\ IRU D FKDQJH First, we needed to clean and clear the years of life that inhabited every corner of my parents’ house. Curio cabinets, china closets, and catchall cabinets full of randomness. Old photos with new photos layered on top. Shelves of worn linens, coats with one glove, and nicked up knickknacks that were given, then forgotten.

It was time.

The plan was to divide everything into three categories. The keep pile would be for things that were not going anywhere.

Everything in that pile would be there for a reason.

The giveaway pile would go to the church garage sale. These were things my mother cared nothing about and didn’t think any of her family would either.

MissouriLife.com

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11

dominant hand, the one I count on. I depend on it to comb my hair, shift my car, and brush my teeth. This is my cooking hand, my writing hand, the hand I use to put on my makeup.

Those were the good old days.

I automatically expected my left hand to pick up the slack. Only my left hand doesn’t know how to do anything. It doesn’t know how to curl hair or use a mixer.

Where has my left hand been all my life?

Seriously, what has that hand been doing? Why did I not give it attention or bother to teach it or train it to do the simplest things?

My left hand seems to have no idea how to reach for the light switch or open my car door.

Even something like a wave or a text or turning the page of my book is foreign to my lefty.

What’s a righty to do?

My signature doesn’t look like mine, and picking my nose is not quite the same. Suddenly, zipping up clothes is a challenge, DQG XQVFUHZLQJ WKH WRS Rಀ P\ water bottle is an impossibility.

My hair is wild, my mascara is a joke, and putting on socks is like an Olympic event. More than that, my left hand has drastically altered my bathroom habits.

How did I get here?

All my life, I have overused my right hand and overindulged my

The throwaway pile was for anything and everything that was unworthy or unloved.

Hopefully, that would be the biggest pile.

We started with a bookshelf in the living URRP 0RP VDW LQ KHU FKDLU ZKLOH , KHOG each item up for judgment. A pair of faded green candles shaped like birds. They were warped and had never been lit, but ZKHQ , VXJJHVWHG WKH\ QHHGHG WR JR 0RP insisted they needed to stay.

“Your sister sent me those when she lived in California.” ȉ0RP 7KDW ZDV \HDUV DJR Ȋ “I know, but they’re still good.”

Sigh.

How about a trio of cheesy cherubs or a bluebird with broken wings? Those were keepers too. Everything on that shelf had a story or a person connected to it. Souvenirs of long-ago travels, handmade gifts IURP JUDQGFKLOGUHQ DQG IDGHG ࡼJXULQHV with a long history. ȉ, ORYH WKRVH Ȋ 0RP GHFODUHG KHU IDFH saying something I couldn’t quite understand.

The next shelf was crowded with dusty

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wooden ducks, fragile ballerinas, and other seemingly forgotten trinkets. According to my mother, the wooden ducks were hand carved, the ballerinas were antiques, and the forgotten trinkets weren’t forgotten, nor were they trinkets.

They were treasures.

0\ PRWKHUȆV IDFH ZDV D ZRQGHUODQG DV we sorted through her closets, drawers, and cabinets. She reached for each item OLNH LW ZDV WKH ࡼUVW WLPH DQG WRJHWKHU ZH laughed and reminisced the day away.

Everything I held up was a story waiting to be told, a memory rich with people and places and the reasons why it was cherished. I knew I would regret not writing it all down before my mother’s words slipped away and became lost in a soonto-be empty house.

By the end of the day, there was only torn wrapping paper and old magazines in the throwaway pile, and the giveaway pile held Taste of Home recipe books my mom insisted people would buy. The keep pile was basically everything, and now evHU\WKLQJ ORRNHG GLಀHUHQW WR PH All day, I had studied my mother’s face, and suddenly, I clearly heard what she wasn’t saying. This is her life we were sorting through, and when we were done emptying it out, then what? There was no immediate need to rush. We still had time.

Surely, we had more time.

It was then that my mother’s dusty little trinkets and treasures, knickknacks, and NQRFNRಀV EHFDPH VRPHWKLQJ , KDG QRW expected.

Keepers, all of them keepers.

RACHEL GOODBEE, LORRY MYERS

eople ask me why I settled in the place where I grew up, and I always tell the same story. I was raised in northern Boone County in a farming and manufacturing community that is lucky to call itself that. In Centralia, we celebrate our tractors, make way for grain trucks, and fall asleep to the rhythm of steel on steel as the factory work never stops.

Growing up, I had a Big Plan that did not involve a small town. I was going to travel the world and find the life I was meant to have. I was going to see new things and do new things and be part of something big.

Then, love got in the way.

When I met my future husband, he had been to Vietnam and back while I had not been anywhere at all. Randy reluctantly agreed to my Big Plan with assurances that his railroad job could take us anywhere. That first year, we traveled many times to cities and towns of all sizes, checking out job openings.

Randy and I would drive around the potential place and pretend we lived there. On our very last town tour, we took my in-laws with us to check out a community in north Missouri. As we

R AC H E L G O O D B EE

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wish this were a worthy tale, a story that would make you think I am more than I am.

Maybe there was a falling child that needed catching or a cat in a tree that needed saving. Perhaps I was working with a sledgehammer on a remodel or lifting weights in the gym. What if I told you WKHUH ZDV D ࡼJKW LQ D EDU DQG , had to step up? How about a stellar pickleball save for the win!

That’s not how this story goes.

The truth is, I am a klutz. I reached to pick up something heavy, lost my balance, karate chopped the doorframe, and broke my right hand. Ouch. I didn’t know it was broken because I’ve never broken a bone before. I heard that an injury like that would turn all kinds of bruised colors, and you would know.

Not me.

It hurt. I iced it and went on.

Two weeks later, I was at the doctor for something unrelated, and the nurse asked me questions like, “Have you fallen?” I laughed and told her, “Almost.”

One x-ray later, I went home with a cast on my hand.

My right hand.

Of course, my right hand is my

RACHEL GOODBEE, LORRY MYERS

Living Big

No place like

THE ADVENTURE LIFE Column AFTER

us The AdventLuro IFE

An Imperfect Adventure

e decided on a plan: full steam ahead and ram the dam.

We called it CFIT Dam, and it clogged the Dardenne Creek Blueway, a 19-mile waterway that winds through St. Charles County and dumps into the Mississippi River.

CFIT (pronounced see-fit) is my friend Rob’s nickname, and it stands for “controlled flight into terrain.” He’s a former fighter pilot, and that’s what they call flying into unexpected things—for example, when they fly into a mountain they didn’t know was there. CFIT Dam seemed like a fitting name because Rob and I didn’t know the “dam” (tightly compacted branches, logs, and debris that had collected after heavy storms in recent days) existed until we arrived in front of it in our kayaks.

We paddled back and forth looking for a way through it.

44

We were only an hour into what we hoped would be a six- to eight-hour trip, so we didn’t want to turn around yet. We needed to defeat this unexpected obstacle. “It feels like a mission,” I said, and as it turns out, it was a mission that went poorly, at least at first.

Every decision we made to conquer CFIT Dam was the right one, but they all turned out wrong. We tried to portage around it, but when I got out of my kayak and planted my feet, the riverbed gave way. I slid down until I was in water up to my chest. As I clumsily climbed back into my kayak, I looked like a baby giraffe scrambling into a shopping cart.

We found a ramp where we could get on shore, and once there, we immediately stepped into mud up to our ankles and still couldn’t find a way to walk around the dam.

I suggested we should make one more attempt at going through CFIT Dam because I knew Rob would say yes, and he did even better than that.

“Full steam ahead and ram it?” he said.

That sounded like a fun, if not an especially good, plan.

Delightful Dardenne I have wanted to kayak the Dardenne Creek Blueway since the first 3.5-mile phase (the first of five phases toward completion) opened in 2022. Now all 19 miles are open, and mile 15 runs just a few hundred yards behind my house in Cottleville.

Delights abounded on a clear, cool Thursday morning at the launching point, Riverside Landing Park, where Dardenne Creek meets the Mississippi River in St. Charles County. A bald eagle soared over the parking lot, a half

dozen turtles sunned themselves on a log, and the midmorning blue of the sky contrasted with the late spring green of the leaves in such a way that I wanted to stare at it, study it, absorb it.

Heading southwest, I put my paddle in the water—right, left, right, left. The creek was wide and smooth, ideal for beginners and good practice for veterans who want to get miles in.

Snakes slithered by, their heads poking out of the water.

Buzzards played in the thermals above. Trees arched over the water, creating cool shade. We crept into a clearing, and the sun warmed my neck. All was right with the world—until we arrived at the damn dam.

Ram the Dam “Full steam ahead and ram it,” as Rob had suggested, was indeed a fun, though not especially good,

MATT CROSSMAN, ST. CHARLES COUNTY

W

ST. CHARLES COUNTY

Left, the Dardenne Creek Blueway flows north and east toward the Mississippi River. Above, on his trip, Matt Crossman paddled upstream for five miles and downstream for five miles. Right, Matt Crossman and his crew found themselves in mud up to their ankles as they tried getting around a dam. Below, when planning your route, it makes little difference in speed whether you travel upstream or downstream.

plan. We learned CFIT Dam was made of a thousand little pieces, and ramming them just pushed them closer together, which hurt more than it helped.

Next, Rob began dispersing logs with his paddles. If we dislodged the right one, we hoped, the whole thing would drift apart like a floating Jenga tower. “Operation clean stream!” he said, and while the progress was slow, it was progress. It felt like we were doing the next kayakers a favor. Eventually we carved a path through and journeyed on, a potential bummer of a day redeemed.

I share all of this because CFIT Dam made us laugh while giving the day texture and my bloodstream a jolt of adventure adrenaline. There’s also this: It shows that while the blueway is safe and slow, it’s also wild, and the dam served as proof that

there are no guarantees in life or with adventure.

Some days you have smooth water from beginning to end.

Some days you run into CFIT Dam. With a challenge like that, win or lose, I win.

The only thing I love more than an adventure that goes perfectly is one that doesn’t.

Entry Points Riverside Landing Park St. Charles

Northeastern terminus

(kayaks available to rent)

370 Lakeside Park St. Peters

Lone Wolff Park St. Peters

(temporarily closed for repairs)

Jack Gettemeyer Park St. Peters

Woodland Sports Park St. Peters Matt Crossman

(coming soon)

An award-winning storyteller from Cottleville, Matt Crossman covers the outdoors and adventure.

Dardenne Prairie

Matt@MissouriLife.com

Bluebird Meadow Park Southwestern terminus September | 2 0 2 6

MissouriLife.com

BEFORE

BEFORE The

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45

The

life

?Q@tPMJPN

life

Fish and carrion make up most of a bald eagle’s diet.

The best time of year to see bald eagles is in the winter, but you can spot them year-round.

Remember That Time Everything Went Perfectly?

Bald eagle nests are often built in the treetops near water.

The average nest is five feet wide and up to four feet deep.

prefer adventures in which I fall on my face because no great adventure story ever starts out with, “Remember that time everything went perfectly?”

I hope that when I come home with stories and sit down to write, my body will be sore, dirty, and exhausted, because that’s how I’ll know I had fun—that’s where the best stories come from.

Just so long as I don’t get sprayed by a skunk.

I have to draw the line somewhere.

The Rise of the Bald Eagle T

Matt Crossman Matt@MissouriLife.com

Matt Crossman Matt@MissouriLife.com

An award-winning storyteller from St. Peters, Matt Crossman covers outdoors and adventure.

Department of Conservation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, was a success, and their population has steadily climbed since then.

Bald eagles were removed from the endangered species list in 2007, and in 2018, Janet Haslerig, an avian ecologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, started the Missouri Eagle Watch Program, through which over 300 volunteers have monitored more than 690 nests of the nearly 1,400 documented in the state. Today, there are 615 active nests, meaning adults, eggs, or eaglets have been observed in them.

Volunteers with the Eagle Watch Program agree to spend 10 hours a year documenting their observations when they visit bald eagle nests. Their payment is a priceless immersion in these fascinating animals’ lives.

An award-winning storyteller from Cottleville, Matt Crossman covers the outdoors and adventure.

MissouriLife.com

50

he flash of white. It never gets old.

I see it on a male bald eagle’s head, perched on a tree above a bike trail near Columbia on a warm spring day. Slightly lower and in their nest is the female, two flashes of white at once—jackpot!

It’s no surprise they’re together. Carol Weston, who has monitored this nest and seven others for eight years as part of the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Eagle Watch Program, says this couple is inseparable.

They hang out together all along the trees up and down the trail.

I study the nest through binoculars, hoping to get a glimpse of their eaglets. Carol peers through the viewfinder

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on her camera. She has spent so much time doing this that she recognizes their behavior. Although I don’t see him move, she notes when the male stirs and predicts he’s about to take off.

Soon he soars toward us, his wings elongating, his beak getting bigger, sharper, and yellower the closer he gets.

Suddenly, he makes a U-turn and flies off into the distance.

He turns right, and his white tail sparkles like a spaceship entering light speed.

“DID YOU SEE THAT?!?!” I shout in delight.

Carol, a retired professor, mother of two, and grandmother of one, smiles. I ask where she thinks he is going.

“Sometimes I think they fly just to fly,” Carol says. “If I

were a bird, I would soar just to soar.”

As our country turns 250 years old, it seems only right to celebrate our national bird for being powerful, mysterious, beautiful, and even elusive. With just as much excitement, we should celebrate how bald eagles have recovered from adversity, especially in Missouri.

BALD EAGLE REVIVAL Eagles all but disappeared from the Show-Me State for most of the 1900s. To repopulate bald eagles in Missouri and prevent the species from going extinct, 74 young bald eagles were released into the state from 1981 to 1990. The project, a collaboration of the Missouri

CA R O L W E STO N

Fortunately, the skunk didn’t spray us, so that encounter turned an already great day into an unforgettable one. I learned right then and there a lesson that transformed my career, and with it, my life: Go outside, do something fun and challenging, and your life will be IXOO WR RYHUࡽRZLQJ ,WȆV ࡼWWLQJ WKDW , ZDV LQWURduced to the adventures that can be had on the Katy Trail in Missouri, as it’s one of many world-class destinations in our state. Already in Missouri Life, I’ve written about the most remote spot in Missouri, where I got rained on in my tent; the lowest elevation in Missouri, which I couldn’t get WR EHFDXVH RI DQ RYHUࡽRZLQJ river that threatened to whisk me away; and a thrilling UTV ride, which I had to give up on because I was afraid I was going to crash.

I hope to make adventure seem accessible because it IS accessible. I’m just a regular suburban dad. I don’t have any training. I have a willingness to fall on my face, and that’s about it. In fact, I

A D O B E STO C K , M AT T C R O S S M A N

48

down on the far side of the ULYHU DQG FDVW WKH FOLಀ IDFH to my right in a warm yellow glow. As I rode, the sun’s UHࡽHFWLRQ RQ WKH ZDWHU IROlowed me, as if it were a rope lassoed around my waist.

It was one of those times where, in the moment itself, you know it’s becoming a ࡽDVKEXOE PHPRU\ , ZDQWed to freeze time, collect the images and sensations, and store them so I could relive it whenever I wanted. Finally, the sun sank below the trees, DQG WKH ODVVR URSH UHࡽHFWLRQ exploded like an icicle hitting the ground after falling from a roof. I returned my gaze to the path in front of me and exulted in gratitude for all I had just seen and felt—the VZHDW RQ P\ EDFN WKH FOLಀV the laughter of friends in front of and behind me. Everything was absolutely perfect.

Then, WHOOSH! A skunk darted onto the trail in front of my friend Brent Mathany. Brent skidded to a stop. I dang near ran into him, and I dang near ran over the skunk.

MATT CROSSMAN

T

he Katy Trail. I’ve jogged it, walked it, hiked it, watched the eclipse on it, camped next to it, and ridden my bike its entire length twice, once in each direction. I have run over a snake on it, slammed my brakes to avoid T-boning a deer on it, and crashed in front of my friends on it when I couldn’t unclip my pedals fast enough to get my feet down.

All of which is to say, I have spent many, many hours exploring the Katy Trail—the strip of crushed limestone that runs from Machens to Clinton. But among all those many hours, there was one very brief moment that completely changed my life and my career and led directly to my adventure-writing niche.

Crisp afternoon. Late fall. I ZDV PLOHV LQ RQ WKH ࡼUVW day of a three-day east-towest ride, almost to Hermann, the prettiest part of the 240-mile trail. The Missouri River ran slowly, as if the water itself was soaking up the beautiful surroundings every bit as much as I was. The sun inched its way

DAY WITH THE EAGLES I spend a morning with Carol touring four eagle nests.

We can’t get a good enough view of one to note much. We see a mom waiting for a dad

to return from hunting for food at the first one and the aforementioned couple. It is what we don’t see at the third nest that perhaps reveals the most about the Eagle Watch Program and the people and animals involved.

While she tries not to, Carol can’t help but get emotionally attached—a sentiment echoed by other Eagle Watch volunteers. We arrive at the nest, and Carol is excited for me to see the eaglets she has been watching. By now, they should be big enough that their heads will poke out of the top.

But when we arrive, there are no eaglets, no flash of white, no epic departure. The nest is empty.

Carol tries to stay hopeful. She tells me sometimes she’ll see an empty nest, worry, come back a few weeks later, and find it full again.

Not this time. The adults disappeared—no one knows why—and the eaglets have died. She has known this pair for eight years, counted their young each year, and watched them grow, mature, and leave the nest.

Now she mourns for them.

If the cost of seeing eagles’ great majesty over and over again and experiencing the flashes of white is sometimes experiencing sorrow, that’s a price the Eagle Watch volunteers are willing to pay.

I trade messages with volunteers responsible for dozens of nests and share stories.

One tells me about talking with eager-to-learn strangers near nests, to which I nod, because Carol and I did that too. Another calls his work scouting the nests “an addiction,” and that feels exactly right.

As I was writing this story, I saw an eagle three times near my house in St. Charles County. Leaning into my eagle scouting experience, I tried unsuccessfully to follow it to its nest. I bet the Eagle Watch volunteers could find its nest, and quickly.

After years of observing eagles, Carol believes she knows them, their habits, their comings and goings.

“I’m so used to watching the intimate language of these birds,” Carol says. “When you see them against the sky, it’s awe-inspiring,” she says. “I never get enough of it.”

Bald eagles reach maturity at fouror five-years-old and acquire their adult plumage around age five.

WHERE TO SEE BALD EAGLES • • • • • • • • • • •

•

Bagnell Dam Access, Lake of the Ozarks Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, Columbia Lock & Dam 24, Clarksville Lock & Dam 25, Winfield Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, north of Puxico Chain of Rocks Bridge, St. Louis Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary, West Alton Schell-Osage Conservation Area, Schell City Smithville Lake, Smithville Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Sumner Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery, southwest of Branson Truman Reservoir, west of Warsaw July/August | 2 0 2 6

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EXPLORE Department AFTER

Big Ideas Visually Dynamic DISCOVER

Captivating Consignment

After high school, Matt Ballou had an epiphany: “If I didn’t at least try to be an artist, I would regret it,” he says. His art now focuses on visual dynamics and the perception of space and depth. “I’m interested in the way that we see, the way that we understand what’s in front of us, how something looks like a surface, how something looks like space, how something looks like light.”

Matt is a professor at the School of Visual Studies at the University of Missouri at Columbia and has painted eight portraits of Mizzou football players, which have joined the other “All-Americans” located at Faurot Field’s South End Zone Facility.

—Emma Zawacki ILoveKaleidoscope.com

—Emma Zawacki PuppetryArtsInstitute.org From left, Christine Slusser and Julie Flynn.

—Tara Clarkson UBJoplin.com

Fiber artist Arianne Cope, in Verona, raises angora rabbits and sheep, shears them, and spins their wool into yarn. Dye for the yarn is made by extracting color from tree branches or flowers (or, quite often, weeds). “I was driven to have loving relationships with the animals that create the yarn and to foster deep connections to the plants where the colors are coming from,” Arianne says.

Shawls are among her favorite creations.

“I am drawn to creating shawls because I can wrap them around myself when I’m hurting; I can wrap them around other people when they’re hurting and spread comfort and healing,” Arianne says.

Arianne Cope

LAURIE AND JASON WILLIAMS

Laurie and Jason Williams saw a need for trade shows in Joplin and decided to buy an 85,000-square-foot building to host them.

Since then, they have added a ballroom event space, and in June of this year they opened Unique Boutiques, a collection of 130 vendors from across Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

“Each booth has their own feel and aesthetic, and it looks like you’re walking into a totally different store,” Laurie says. Firsttime visitors are a treat for Laurie. “You know when it’s someone’s first time coming through the doors. You absolutely see it on their face,” she says.

“They’re just so excited.” The next addition, Laurie says, will be a cafe.

—Tara Clarkson Instagram @WoolenBluebird

—Tara Clarkson Nations.MST.edu

September | 2 0 2 6

BEFORE EXPLORE

Life, Liberty, and Sister Statues

Trails and Tales

statue, repairing and repolishing the pitted metal, was VMD Sculpting, based in Soulard in St. Louis and run by sculptor Vlad Zhitomirsky.

When Vlad immigrated from Ukraine to the United States in the early 1990s, he observed “a country that makes a conscious effort to preserve its past,” and he notes that “organizations like the Daughters of the American Revolution are deeply committed to that mission.”

This project was special for Vlad. “As an immigrant, the Statue of Liberty is deeply personal to me. It represents the opportunity and freedom that brought me here. And here I was, entrusted with restoring that symbol for an American community.”

The statue in Boonville is one of 200 within 29 states across the country. Twenty-five Liberty Sisters were installed in Missouri between 1949 and 1952, and 22 of them remain intact.

Lisa likes to go on “scavenger hunts” when she travels to other states to find the Liberty Sisters. She says they tend to be in city parks, in front of courthouses, or on school grounds, and they are each accompanied by a plaque from the Boy Scouts of America.

Liberty Sisters in Our State Boonville • Cooper County Courthouse Butler • Butler Elementary Cape Girardeau • Capaha Park Columbia • Gentry Building Concordia • Central Park Independence • Midwest Genealogy Center Jefferson City • Missouri State Capitol Kansas City • Meyer Boulevard & Prospect Avenue Kansas City • North Kansas City High School Lamar • Barton County Courthouse Lexington • Lafayette County Courthouse

A Howler Bike Park has several ramps on their more difficult courses that bikers can use to catch some air.

The park embraces its Ozark surroundings, using natural limestone rock as obstacles for riders.

The Basecamp offers picnic tables and a rooftop deck where visitors can enjoy snacks, drinks, and the serene nature.

Liberty • Franklin Elementary Maldon • Malden Elementary Marshall • Indian Foothills Park Memphis • Scotland County Courthouse Mexico • Audrain County Courthouse Osceola • H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation Salisbury • Salisbury City Park Sedalia • Pettis County Courthouse Slater • Slater High School Springfield • Greene County Courthouse St. Joseph • Fort Smith Park

Story and photos by Andrea Kaneko

With 14 trails, riders can choose their own adventure before getting on their bike. Bike trails include the Stroller Coaster, with road crossings and bridges, and Say Uncle, which contains an exciting, steep incline and is a hard-pedal trail for more experienced riders. You can also bike past the human-sized howler statue that lives on the compound.

If visitors have never been to a bike park or do not have equipment of their own, Howler rents everything they may need for a day on the trails or weekend getaway, including bikes, helmets, and other protective gear.

Before opening Howler Bike Park, Max Penny and his family owned a bike shop in

the Ozarks called Mountain Movement. A year after the bike shop opened, the family purchased the land in Walnut Shade that became Howler Bike Park. It started with the family creating a single trail through the forest and ramped up from there.

“It started pretty organic, like, ‘Okay, we’ll make a couple of trails for mountain biking DQG VHH ZKR FRPHV RXW ȆȷȊ 0D[ VD\V (PSOR\HHV GXEEHG ȉ7KH 7UDLO &UHZ Ȋ maintain existing trails and work to create new ones. Max proudly takes part in the trailblazing endeavors, but outside of working the trails, he enjoys the people who visit. ȉ7KLV LV JRLQJ WR VRXQG FRUQ\ Ȋ 0D[ VD\V “but this is the truth. I love seeing when people come out, and maybe they’ve had a bad week, or they just haven’t had the best time in the world. They come out and are just so pumped that they got to escape from WKH ZRHV RI HYHU\GD\ OLIH Ȋ To commemorate their adventure at Howler Bike Park, visitors can shop at the park’s store and purchase a branded T-shirt, a hat, or bike gear.

Not a biker? This family-owned business has something for everyone. At the park’s central hub, the Basecamp, visitors can grab food from the Growl Grill or a fresh coffee from Howler Coffee.

For those wanting to extend their adventure, there are also rentable places to stay on the grounds’ 200 acres, including tents, RV spots, and glamping tents.

And who knows? If you stay the night at Howler Bike Park, you might just catch a glimpse of its monstrous mascot, the howler.

3410 Highway 65, Walnut Shade HowlerBikePark.com

Daughters of the American Revolution members echo the Boonville Liberty Sister’s pose prior to its refurbishment.

MissouriLife.com

s urban legend would have it, a monstrous creature used to roam the forests of the Ozark Mountains: the howler. It was said to be as large as a bear and covered in orange fur. This creepy creature also inspired the logo and theme for Howler Bike Park in Walnut Shade. Supposedly, there are people today who still claim to have heard the howler’s call. Whether you believe the myth of the howler or not, Howler Bike Park has been giving thrills to adventurers since its opening in 2022.

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Surrounding the movie viewing area is a replica pioneer blacksmith shop.

The Pioneer Trail Adventures tour is led by Ralph Goldsmith.

Visitors to the National Frontier Trails Museum can pose with a yoke that was used for oxen.

HOWLER BIKE PARK

The refurbished Liberty Sister at the Cooper County Courthouse was rededicated on June 13, 2026.

isa Parks decided that before her term was to end in 2026 as the Missouri State Society Daughters of the American Revolution State Regent, she wanted to raise funds for a meaningful project. This project turned out to be restoring the Liberty Sister statue in Boonville.

“I knew that America 250 would be part of my term, and I saw the Liberty Sister statue in front of the Cooper County Courthouse, and I thought, that’s it,” Lisa says. “She’s been sitting outside since 1951, so she needed some help.”

The Liberty Sister statues are similar but not exact miniatures of the Statue of Liberty. J.P. Whitaker, the Commissioner of the Kansas City Area Council in Missouri for the Boy Scouts of America, came up with the idea for the Liberty Sisters in 1949. His goal was to remind Americans of how precious their freedom is. “They had a FUXVDGH WR ȅVWUHQJWKHQ WKH DUP RI OLEHUW\ ȆȷȊ Lisa says.

Although the Boy Scouts were the primary group installing the statues, some were installed by private donors, like the one in Boonville donated by the Wolfner family.

The company that restored the Boonville

Story by Emma Zawacki | Emma@MissouriLife.com

LISA PARKS

L

Independence remains a hub for all things frontier history.

Pedal your way through Howler Bike Park in Walnut Shade.

Story by Tara Clarkson | Tara@MissouriLife.com

Heading Toward the Wild West Yeehaw Y'all

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The Arm of Liberty

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BEFORE EXPLORE

EXPLORE

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Saturday, September 26, marks the 17th year of the Celebration of Nations at Rolla. This year’s theme for the event is Get Your Global Kicks on Route 66, explains Rebecca West, manager of programs, communication, outreach, and engagement for Missouri S&T and director of the Celebration of Nations, “because our parade marches down Pine Street, which is Route 66.”

There will be a huge creative area for kids, Rebecca says. The Kummer Center for STEM Education will have five tents of STEM activities, anything from robotics to puzzles to gems that kids can dig and find, she adds. Vendors’ offerings will “range between different cultural cuisines and gifts and fun things you wouldn’t find anywhere, like handcrafted items,” Rebecca says.

MissouriLife.com

BEFORE

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Nancy Clark

Soft One Community, One World Surroundings

Matt Ballou's Kundalini Curtain (2024)

A Myriad of Merchants

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During its 26 years of operation, the Puppetry Arts Institute in Independence has collected puppets from across six continents, which are rotated through free-to-visit exhibits.

The institute offers a puppet-making workshop where you can create your own puppet, get a feel for its personality, and practice performing. It also offers puppet shows for $5.

Board treasurer for the institute and puppet educator Nancy Clark, a puppet enthusiast since the age of seven, sometimes performs with her favorite kind of puppet, a marionette.

“Puppetry is not just a craft project,” Nancy says. “It is a performance piece.”

CELEBRATION OF NATIONS

—Tara Clarkson MattBallou.com

Playful Puppetry

Kaleidoscope Consignment & Boutique in Pacific offers men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing and accessories, as well as home decor. Owner Christine Slusser purchased the store in 2017, and Julie Flynn joined the team in 2019. According to Julie, it is important to thrift new-to-you items because it takes around “80 gallons of water to make a new cotton shirt.”

The merchandise at Kaleidoscope is never the same twice because its “wholesalers” are community members from the surrounding area who bring goods to the store. Once an item is sold, the consignor receives a percentage of its sale price.

18

“G

reat, my son just died of typhoid fever,” says Sydney Jones, associate editor of Missouri Life magazine, while playing the Oregon Trail computer game at the National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence.

Independence is known as Queen City of the Trails because it was a starting point for the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trails. In the mid-1800s, tens of thousands of pioneers passed through the town; now, Independence honors this history through interactive activities.

Within a few block radius, the town showcases the National Frontier Trails 0XVHXP ZKLFK KDV H[KLELWV RQ ࠸YH GL࠵HUHQW IURQWLHU WUDLOV DQG 0HUULOO - Mattes Research Library, an archive brimming with all things frontier trails.

The town also features Pioneers Trail Adventures, a historical tour given to guests while they ride on a horse-drawn Chattanooga wagon. ȉ:H ZHUH EDVLFDOO\ WKH MXPSLQJ R࠵ point at the time the trails came through here,” says Melissa Brown, the National Frontier Trails Museum services supervisor. “This was the edge of known civilization. Once you left Independence, you ZHUH MXPSLQJ R࠵ LQWR WKH XQNQRZQ Ȋ The museum covers the history of the Lewis & Clark, Santa Fe, Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails. Inside the museum are artifacts and replicas of items used on the trail, including guns, clothing, diaries, and crates. It also has interactive children’s activities like the original Oregon Trail computer game, a game to test how many pioneer items (like wheat or medicine) can be put in

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a wagon without going overweight, and Lincoln Logs, which can be used to build pioneer-style cabins. Besides the exhibits, there is a gift shop and a short movie about westward expansion that plays in a movie room decorated like a frontier blacksmith shop and grocery store.

Down the street, in the Missouri Model Railroad Museum, is the Merrill J. Mattes Research Library. This library has a collection of over 3,000 volumes on the trails, periodicals, maps, relics, and photographs all hidden behind a steel door. From rocking chairs to farming tools to clothing trunks to barrels, the library has collected an archive of frontier artifacts. People all across the world reach out to the library for information and research material housed here. Visitors are required to make an appointment before searching its over࠹RZLQJ VKHOYHV Near the library is Pioneer Trails Adventures, a history tour given from a horse-drawn covered wagon that travels around town. This unique tour starts with a “yeehaw” from tour guide Ralph Goldsmith. It then bumps around town and passes the Bingham-Waggoner Mansion & Estate, the Harry S. Truman Home, the 1827 Log Courthouse, and ࠸YH RWKHU KLVWRULF VLWHV 7KURXJKRXW WKH tour, Ralph jumps into character and GHWDLOV LFRQLF KLVWRULFDO ࠸JXUHV ZKR UDQ around the town, like Jesse James, historic battles that took place in the town, frontier wagon train starting points, and more.

“Most of the world was coming here to Independence to spread out to the West,” Melissa says.

ML Q&A Inside Back Cover AFTER

BEFORE Q&A

Small Town Livin’ What our readers said about living in their small towns.

Q: What do you like about living in your small town?

Majestic Murals An artist transforms blank walls into patriotic depictions.

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WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO PAINT MURALS FULL TIME?

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR NEW MURAL ARTISTS?

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Rachael West

WHAT DO YOU LISTEN TO WHEN YOU ARE WORKING?

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WHAT IS THE TOOL YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT?

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A: I love that my bank knows me by face. The coffee shop knows me by name and gives out hugs. I love that I see my kid’s baseball team when I’m at the grocery or local diner.

Rhonda Beerman

—Rachael West, Buffalo

R AY H A RV E Y

R

Ang Brown

MissouriLife.com

A: I love historic downtown Hannibal. I love that every morning when I go get my coffee, I feel like I’m on vacation. I love that I’m greeted with smiling faces and happy tourists. I love the church bells and the riverboat calliope music. I love the history here and in historic Ilasco.

—Ang Brown, Hannibal

BEFORE

A: I love the automatic greetings or waves from a vehicle.

I love that without a thought, neighbors will come to help. I love that people know me and my family (including the generation before me).

I love that local events are supported, as well as the small businesses that keep small towns thriving.

—Rhonda Beerman, Concordia

Jill

ElseyStoner

A: The people. Small towns thrive on the community connections to one’s neighbors. The pace of life can be a bit slower, so we take time to greet one another and look out for each other, especially in trying times or tragedy. We celebrate accomplishments together too. When the citizens of small towns gather, for whatever purpose, it strengthens the foundation of the town and underscores the need for those connections.

—Jill Elsey-Stoner, Turners

Barbi Savage

Q&A

Paging Doctor Celia

A: All of this!! I grew up in a small town and have only lived in small towns. Loved being able to play outside as a kid and let our kids play outside and not have to worry. Neighbors watch out for each other and help when needed. Yes, sometimes bad things still happen, but I never worried daily about whether we would be safe.

—Barbi Savage, Windsor

Clowns on Call coordinator treats hospital patients with a healthy dose of laughter.

Cheri Russell

A: I love all the neat local family-owned shops like antique shops, flea markets, and tea rooms where you can buy special treasures from your past and enjoy them again. Shopping local helps keep small towns alive, and you can have a lot of FUN too!

—Cheri Russell, Ozark

Story by Emma Zawacki

C

elia Shacklett has been clowning around for nine years with a group called Clowns on Call, through Circus Flora in St. Louis. Celia is the group’s coordinator and visits children’s hospitals in the area as her clown character, Doctor &HOLD :KLOH KHU JRDO LV WR PDNH FKLOGUHQ ODXJK GXULQJ D GLࡺcult period, it is not always jokes and fun. Celia has to work to bring joy into spaces with sick and hurting children.

HOW DO YOU BRING PATIENTS OUT OF Q THEIR SHELL AND HELP THEM TO LAUGH? A | , ࡼQG D ORW RI WLPHV ZKDW ZRUNV IRU PH LV WR MXVW PLPLF D kid’s facial expression or the noise they make. I do rememEHU EDFN LQ P\ ࡼUVW GD\V WKH ࡼUVW WLPH WKDW , IHOW OLNH , UHDOO\ made a connection. It was a kid who just made a noise, like, ‘wanh.’ And then I did it back, and that stimulated us doing it back-and-forth, just making noises. We were just having a silly interaction, but the kid really opened up, and we played together. That’s the goal, we’re not just trying to do a performance. We’re actually trying to engage with a kid.

IS IT HARD TO COMPARTMENTALIZE

Q WORKING IN THE HOSPITAL?

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Come see us at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis on October 9–11 at the Best of Missouri Market.

fun, or some connection. We all love what we do. We feel like LWȆV IXOࡼOOLQJ IRU XV DQG IRU WKH NLGV ,I WKLQJV DUH GLࡺFXOW IRU D moment, we’re moving on. ... We try to keep it light.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART

Q OF BEING A CLOWN ON CALL?

A | I love the challenge of walking into a room and not having any idea what kind of state the patient or their family is going to be in. I mean, they could be really bored or sad or in pain or lonely. It could be anything. We don’t know what’s going on with them. When we walk in, we usually know their name and their age, and that’s about all. So walking in a room and WU\LQJ WR ࡼQG D ZD\ WR FRQQHFW TXLFNO\ LV D FKDOOHQJH DQG LWȆV a very rewarding challenge. When we make those connections with kids, we know that’s an important part of their day.

DO YOU HAVE PATIENTS THAT Q YOU GET TO VISIT WITH REGULARLY? A | We have patients we see over and over again. We have our relationships with kids that we see for whatever reason—they go back to visit the hospital, or they have a long stay—and those kids, we have a chance to develop relationships with. Also, we have a partnership with a children’s rehabilitation center, and sometimes we see kids that receive longer-term care and the same kids that we know from [the hospital]. Those are very special interactions when we get to VHH WKH VDPH NLG EXW LQ D GLಀHUHQW SODFH

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MissouriLife.com

BILL DICKERSON

WHAT IMPACT DO YOU THINK THAT Q CLOWNS ON CALL HAS ON PATIENTS? A | I think we provide a really important outlet for these kids.

Not only to laugh and have fun but also to have a visit with some clowns that breaks up the monotony of their day in the hospital. But also, sometimes the kids don’t really want to see us or interact with us. We take those times very seriously as well because those kids may not have a lot of choices in the hospital, and they don’t get to tell people ‘no.’ We think that’s just as important as having a visit, giving them an opportunity to say, ‘Hit the bricks, clowns.’

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