plate 1. Two boys race across the street before the parade starts while their father follows behind.
Hartville Fall Festival 2015
by Stephen Meek
Hartville, Missouri’s fall festival is like coming home. And, with the sun warmly beaming down and evidence of all these people’s big hearts and equally big appetites, it felt a bit like Tolkien’s mythical Shire, except for all the t-shirts, flannel and camo. As I scanned the crowd, I saw multiple generations enjoying the festivities each in their own way.
Kids ran about, tugging balloons behind them and occasionally whacking each other with inflatable toys from the cup-shooting game on the corner of the courthouse square. Teens walked in packs, talking, laughing, ready for any excuse to hang out. Adults browsed the craft stalls, sat against the walls and on the bleachers, listening to live music and watching the various contests. Grandparents gathered simply to talk and watch the merriment unfold around them. As the day wore on, more and more friends met with excited shouts and warm hugs.
Plates 2, 3 & 4. Top, locals walk the street between booths. Middle, children shoot at plastic cups to win prizes like inflatable hammers and inflatable aliens. Above, a local craft booth sells hand-sewn merchandise.
The fall festival is, according to the local chamber of commerce, a “craft festival to raise funds for the chamber and raise awareness of local business.” Featuring various booths, live music, contests, a pie auction, a car show, a parade, sprint car races and a haunted house, the events lasts all day, leaving the town’s citizens a little closer, a little friendlier and a little worn out! The festival is the only one like it for this community and people from neighboring towns and the surrounding mountains often come to enjoy the merrymaking as well.
Plates 5, 6 & 7. Top, a wooden chain hangs from the awning where hand-turned woodware is also sold. Middle, the local Lions Club, one of the longest standing booths at the Fall Festival, cuts potatoes into spirals to be fried. Above, the crowds wait as over the hill a police car heads up the parade.
This year, the booths — each generally consisting of an awning and a homemade sign — featured such treasures as toy stuffing, hand-turned woodware and wooden chains to decorate the local homes, and “larrupin’ good” food. The Lions Club, which runs one of the oldest booths of the festival, served up spiral-cut potatoes, hot dogs and hamburgers. Nearby, the obligatory funnel cake and kettle corn booths drew those with a sweet tooth.
Plates 8, 9 & 10. Top, Hartville High School's marching band crowds the street and spin flags. Middle, Hartville's Christian Motorcyclists ride patriotically carrying a flag of their own. Above, a local family steps out of the crowd to select candy from one of the vintage cars that was featured in both the parade and the car show earlier in the afternoon.
At the end of the day, the crowds stopped wandering through the booths (for what must have been the 50th time), lined up along the street and turned their eyes west toward the school. After about a half an hour of waiting, the kids were growing antsy and the side of the road was packed with people. The sun fell to that angle where ball caps are of no help whatsover and everyone squinted into the sun, looking for the first signs of the parade.
Plates 11, 12 & 13. Top, children and parents scramble to pick up candy from the side of the road. Middle, for the first time in several years, local veterans march as color guard. Above, local girls drive in the back of a convertible recognizing their friends on the side of the road.
Then the announcer at the street corner began to speak, heralding each float, while pausing to introduce the color guard of local veterans, to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, to sing the national anthem and to reveal the winner of this or that local award. As the parade passed, candy flew, children rushed and parents and teens called out to friends and family. Some bystanders walked up to the cars to greet friends or collect candy more selectively.
plates 14, 15 & 16. Top, Hartville High School's Haunted House float advertises for the night's event. Middle, Hartville's cheer team walks together back up the hill after the parade. Above, an International-Farmall rumbles past the local insurance company.
Hartville’s fall festival may be over but, after a long day of community, culture and fun, the day created memories that will last a generation. Grandparents will brag about what their kids or grandkids did today. Adults may reminisce about the time they bought this or that knick-knack. Teens will joke of their adventures together. And the children may treasure this, their perhaps earliest hometown memory. Though Hartville will change as time goes on, the community will long remember this “long-expected party,” where close friends come to be as close as family.
October 21, 2015
Hartville Fall Festival 2015: State of the Ozarks
ALL PHOTOS: Stephen Meek, October 10, 2015
