Twelve new Hootin an Hollarin vendors to appear for the 2018 festival


The Ava Art Guild members’ elaborately painted gourds are popular items each year in their Hootin an Hollarin booth.

The Rose Family Wood Products booth will feature these beautiful log jewelry boxes for purchase.

Pony Town will be offering pony rides at Hootin an Hollarin for $5 each. The ponies will be set up in the parking lot across from Guffey Motors just off the southwest side of the square.

Vendor and booth chairpersons LaVese Ericksen and Barbara Luna say the Hootin an Hollarin committee has had their ears open to suggestions from past festival-goers. In response, this year’s event will include 12 new vendors!

 

Crafts and handmade items

As always, handmade items and craft booths will be plentiful at this year’s Hootin an Hollarin festival.  Some items that will be offered for sale include clever and unique handmade pottery items, handcarved canes, hiking sticks and log jewelry from the Rose Family Wood Product booth, Steve and Carye Miller’s popular leather goods, stained-glass windows by Debbie Jordan and honey and other bee-related items. Dozens of other booths will offer a wide variety of items such as handmade wooden toys, wire wrapped jewelry, lawn ornaments and “redneck gifts.” See the vendor booth map on page 59 in the Hootin an Hollarin festival guide for a listing of all booths and their products. 

 

VFD raffles and Farm Bureau’s raffle

Brixey/Rockbridge, Lick Creek, Wasola and Tecumseh VFDs are scheduled to set up at their usual spots for their annual gun raffles. Timber Knob VFD is raffling off a  BBQ grill at their booth, and Farm Bureau has also appeared on this year’s vendor map for a raffle fundraiser. 

 

Demonstrations and activities

In addition to their gun raffle, Brixey/Rockbridge VFD will have a dunking booth, ready for patrons to try their hand at hitting the target and plunging a firefighter or other volunteer into the icy water tank below. 

The Missouri Department of Conservation is planning to operate an educational booth with a wildlife display. It’s unclear what wildlife will make an appearance, but the taxidermy wild hog they brought last year was a big hit with young and old festival-goers!

The Ozark County Volunteer Library booth will include a book sale and free kids’ coloring station, and a free ragdoll making station will offer kids another fun option (see page 29 in the festival guide for more information).

Homemade bread and homemade butter will be available for a nominal fee at the information check-in booth just to the right of the main stage on the east side of the square. Quilting, knitting, crocheting and spinning demonstrations can also be seen there. 

 

Games and other fun

Grab your cowboy hat and test out your rodeo skills at a new mechanical bull ride that will provide some fun this year for all ages in a booth in the Century Bank parking lot. Although organizers thought the long-time pony rides would be discontinued this year due to space issues, a new vendor has stepped up to provide the horsey fun. Check out the Pony Town booth in the parking lot across from Guffey Motors. Look for the big red and white tent. 

The fun just keeps coming if you continue around the square to the west side where several local school groups will have game fundraisers ready for participant action. The GHS junior class booth will host a bean bag toss game, the GHS seniors will have their popular dart booth and wheel of fortune and the GHS band will host a ring toss. 

For free fun, kids should check out the terrapin races and kids’ games at 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday in front of City Hall. Another round of free old-fashioned kids’ games will be held at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Amyx lot just off the northwest side of the square (across from City Hall). See pages 26 and 27 in the Hootin an Hollarin festival guide for more information on these free options. 

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423