Mountian Man Festival Takes Visitors Back
200 Years at Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, MO.–When Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery returned from the Northwest in 1806, the explorers brought back tales of rugged mountain men and how they lived in the frontier wilderness.  Although two centuries have passed, visitors to the Lake of the Ozarks can experience early 19th century America as Lewis and Clark saw it at the 20th annual Osage River Mountain Man Festival and Rendezvous, Sept. 14-16 at the American Legion Campground below Bagnell Dam.
   
An authentic living-history re-enactment, the Mountain Man Festival and Rendezvous will bring together traders and trappers, gunsmiths and blacksmiths, artisans and storytellers in a frontier encampment circa 1800-1840. Participants’ attire, equipment, food, entertainment and lodging will faithfully depict the period.
  
 “Typically we have about 100 campsites including mountain men and women, traders and shooters,” says festival co-chairman Geniece Tyler, owner of the Golden Door Motel in Osage Beach.  “It’s so interesting to walk around the campground and listen as the re-enactors talk about their lives and demonstrate their skills,” Tyler says, such as shooting, trapping, starting a fire, cooking, woodcarving, even playing music and making apple butter from scratch in a big antique kettle.
   
In between chatting with re-enactors, visitors can take a break and experience an old-time anvil shoot. Back by popular demand, World Anvil Shooting Champion Gay Wilkinson of Farmington, Mo., will conduct this unique – and very loud – demonstration twice each day on Saturday and Sunday.  Anvil shooting consists of placing a large blacksmith’s anvil upside down on the ground, filling it with gunpowder, placing another anvil on top and lighting a line leading from the powder.  The resulting boom supposedly can be heard up to 15 miles away.
  
 “In the early 19th century, towns without cannons shot anvils as an early warning system to alert residents about an emergency or a gathering,” Tyler explains.  “Gay shoots his anvil so high, more than 100 feet into the air.  It’s just incredible that a heavy hunk of lead can fly like that.”  
   
The colorful Trader’s Row marketplace is another major attraction at the festival.  This shopping area will feature a wide array of goods that a mountain man might have made or traded.  Items for sale will include collectible guns and knives, woven blankets, fabric and clothing, beadwork, homemade soap and candles, leather goods, pottery and baskets, jams and jelly, arrowheads, pelts, and much more.  “You can find some unique items here,” Tyler notes. “It’s certainly not your neighborhood mall.”  A variety of concessions also will be available.
   
As in previous years, mountain men and women will compete for prizes in black powder shoots, tomahawk and knife throwing and fire-starting contests.  In addition, the French Colonial Artillery will be back to conduct drills and fire cannons throughout Saturday and Sunday.  “The Mountain Man Rendezvous is not just buckskin,” Tyler says. “The French, English and Spanish all were in the region at one time or another in the early 19th century and all of these influences will be evident in re-enactors’ costumes.”
   
Tyler expects 3,000 or more visitors over the weekend, including approximately 1,000 students who attend at no charge on Friday.  “Schools from all over the region bring their students because it’s such a great learning experience,” she says.  “Everyone involved works so hard to keep the era alive and make everything as authentic as possible. You can learn so much simply by strolling around.”
   
Admission for the entire weekend will be $5 for adults; children age 15 and younger will be admitted free with a paid adult admission.  The event will be open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.
  
 “We invite everyone to come spend a fascinating few hours at the Osage River Mountain Man Festival,” says Trish Creach, executive director of the Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.  “You’ll be so amazed at the authenticity of the event, you’ll truly feel you’re back in the early 19th century.”
   
For more information contact the Lake Area Chamber of Commerce at 800-451-4117 or visit www.lakeareachamber.com. And to find out more about lodging, dining, shopping, attractions and activities at Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, contact the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitor Bureau at 800-FUN-LAKE (386-5253) or visit www.funlake.com.

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