News
Pre-registration is $20. Registration the day of the event is $25. All participants receive a commemorative T-shirt with this year's fun logo.
Runners and walkers are invited to participate in Ozark County’s oldest 5k, set for 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. The race is a pet-friendly event, according to organizers.
Participants can register between 8 and 9 a.m. next to Gainesville City Hall, or they can pre-register by mail. Pick up a...
This year’s festival will include a new bit of free olden-day fun for the kiddos! Volunteer Jamie Green Kingsolver is heading up a free rag doll making booth on the inside row of the west side of the square, across from the school booths. All supplies will be provided, free of charge. Jamie says...
Lil Princess - 2017 Lil Princess winners were, from left, first runner-up Moxie Similkier, Lil Princess Lola Wade, and second runner-up Cami Strain.
The Hootin an Hollarin princess contests, which begin at 3:45 p.m. Friday on the main stage, feature Ozark County girls sharing their most adorable Hootin an Hollarin personalities.
The categories are Lil Princess, open to first and second graders; Lil Miss, open to third and fourth graders; and...
Hudson Friend, son of Davin and Kasey Friend, wore a coon-skin cap during his Lil Cedar Pete performance last year.
The Lil Cedar Pete and Lil Miss Addie Lee contest leads the lineup of children’s celebrity competitions, beginning at 3:15 p.m. Friday on the main stage. (Sign-up beside or behind the stage right after the costume contest.) Sponsored by the Ozark County Chamber of Commerce, the contest, for boys...
Photo above: Tena (Walrath) McKinzie, left, and brother Joe Walrath, far right, along with Patty Blackburn, center, were winners in the 1976 terrapin races. Tena, who won first place, said she and Joe (third place) would scan the roads on their way home from the family farm Sundays about a month before Hootin an Hollarin. When they would find a speedy-looking turtle, they’d ask their dad stop and pick it up. They let the terrapins loose in the family basement and fed them and worked with them every day. Tena said, “Sometimes we would get a little panicked if we couldn’t find them right away. Good memories!” Tena said this photo sat on the living room shelf of the Walrath house for quite a few years.
Terrapin races
Terrapin, turtle, tortoise... whatever you want to call the hard-shelled reptile is just fine, just round one up and haul it to the square for your chance at this long-standing Hootin an Hollarin event title.
The terrapin races, under the direction of Pamela Sisney this year, will...
A young competitor gives his finest effort to win the 2017 watermelon seed spitting title. The watermelon seed spitting contest is a popular event during the free old-fashioned kids’ games on Saturday.
Take advantage of some free fun for the kiddos at this year’s Hootin an Hollarin old-fashioned kids games. Volunteer Kerrie Zubrod will be heading up a whole mess of “Fun from the old school”-style games and competitions at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Amyx building, across the...
Bob Kingsolver pitches a horseshoe while John Steffensen watches in this 2010 Hootin an Hollarin photo. The horseshoe pitching competition, which hasn’t been held since 2014, is making a comeback this year.
The 2018 edition of Hootin an Hollarin will feature an event that has been dormant for a few years, the horseshoe pitching competition. This year’s competition will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday morning in the parking lot across from Guffey Motors at Third Street and Harlin drive west of the square....
Doris and Wayne Sayles
Wayne and Doris Sayles, this year’s honorees as the 2018 Barney Douglas Citizens of the Year, have done a lot of good things for their adopted hometown. And it all began in 1993 with the most casual and unplanned of life-changing decisions.
After retiring from the Air Force, Wayne returned to his...
The 1968 Hootin an Hollarin queen and her court: from left, Johnna Luna Morgan, Martha Exline Gregory, queen Karen Dancy Stewart, Sue Ann Luna Jones, Beverly Smith and Katherine Sims Coffman.
Each year’s Hootin an Hollarin queen pageant showcases Ozark County girls’ personality and charm. It’s a tradition that carries on a legacy of more than half a century of hillbilly royalty. Ozark County girls, some of whom are now grandmothers, who have held the title as Hootin an Hollarin queen...
The 2018 Hootin an Hollarin queen candidates include, clockwise from left, (front row) Jaima DeVries, Gracie Johnston, Abby Mahan; (middle row) Kayla Lee, Kaitlyn Morse, Libby Pansano, Haley Mack, Ruthanne Doebler; (back row) Star Janes, A’Aisha Sykes, Hunter McCullough, Lily Parker, Sarah Jennings and Hannah See. Not pictured, Branetta McNece.
Hootin an Hollarin opens Thursday evening with music from Modern August and the Kattie Laney Project followed by the annual queen pageant at 7:30 p.m., when a big crowd gathers on the east side of the square to cheer for some of Ozark County’s most talented and charming teenage girls competing for...