46. Southern Gospel Picnic
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 338-2611, (800) 952-6626
Description: Southern gospel music has always resounded through our Ozark hills, from country churches and county fairs to porch-side pickin’ sessions and Sunday services. Now, we offer a whole festival of such music with a bonus of our popular theme park.
47. Annual Antique Automobile Festival
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (479) 253-8737
Description: Vintage vroooom takes over the city as hundreds of antique cars gather at Pine Mountain Village in Eureka Springs for this event the second weekend in September. There are judging classes for cars 25 years and older in both original and modified categories, with trophies and prizes. The weekend also includes a reenactment of a 1922 bank robbery and much more, including the city’s annual toy, doll, and train show. Admission for the Antique Automobile Festival is free, but if you have a car you want to enter, registration is $18.
48. Annual Eureka Springs Jazz Festival
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (479) 253-8737
Description: Enjoy one cool, long weekend of jazz and the beginnings of the fall color on historic Spring Street. The Jazz Festival is always the third weekend in September. There’s jazz around town indoors and out in clubs, bed-and-breakfast inns, restaurants, parks, and other venues. Renowned jazz headliners will appear in concert at the city auditorium on Saturday night. Prices vary at venues, and there are always free concerts in the Basin Street Park.
49. Apple Festival
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 935-2257
Description: All things apple fill the menu for this festival on the Seymour Square. Expect all kinds of apples, apple cider, apple pie, apple cobbler, apple butter, apple bobbing, and an apple-peeling contest, as well as Johnny Appleseed himself. Seymour is 20 minutes east of Springfield on US 60.
50. Autumn Daze Craft Festival Downtown
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 334-1548, (888) 322-2786
Description: During the third weekend in September, Branson’s downtown area is turned into a craft-lover’s paradise. More than 150 crafters from throughout the United States have displays and demonstrations, and the parking lots and sidewalks are filled with them and their work. This 30-plus-year tradition is one of the best crafts shows in the nation.
51. Banjo Rally International
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (479) 253-8737
Description: Finger-pickin’ good could describe this event the first weekend in September and the two days before it. It’s a gathering of top-rate banjo players, replete with concerts, jam sessions, educational sessions on old-style techniques, workshops, and specialty vendors for banjo players or those who just love to hear a banjo. A concert on Saturday night is open to the public for a minimal fee (about $5). Call for information about workshop fees.
52. Country Fair Days
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 858-3300
Description: You may be surprised what we do in small towns to have fun. This event is worth it just for the Ugly Dog Contest, but you can also find a car show, arts and crafts, and food and fun. Call the Shell Knob Chamber of Commerce at the number above for the exact date.
53. National Harvest Festival
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 338-2611, (800) 952-6626
Description: The cream of the crop of American craftspeople is invited to display talents and arts at Silver Dollar City’s big annual harvest festival. Held in September and October when the Ozarks area is changing to its colorful fall wardrobe, this show has been ranked as one of the top tourism events in the nation. There are doll makers, wheat weavers, basket weavers, woodcarvers, potters, raku pottery makers, and glassblowers who do what they do best and answer questions from the curious. There is always a cornucopia of not only crafts and arts but also interesting and exciting foods. One nice thing about this big event is that regular park admission prices apply.
54. Grape And Fall Festival
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 334-3050
Description: Hollister is not a grape-growing region anymore, but that’s no excuse not to have a fall festival on Downing Street in the “English Village of the Ozarks.” Look for entertainment, eats, and arts and crafts, usually the second weekend in September.
55. Greater Ozarks Blues Festival
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Description: Downtown Springfield sponsors the Greater Ozarks Blues Festival the second weekend in September. Legendary blues artists and fans gather at various venues in downtown for the bluesy event. In the past, it has featured artists such as Tommy Castro, the Cate Brothers, Delta Groove Blues Revue, Rich Berry, ABS Band, and Teeny Tucker.
56. Hometown Harvest Days
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 468-3943
Description: The County Fairgrounds is the site of this arts, crafts, and entertainment show that attracts people from near and far in Webster County. Marshfield is only minutes east of Springfield on I-44.
57. Hootin’ N Hollerin’
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 679-4913
Description: Gainesville is the county seat of Ozark County, just east of Taney County. The drive on US 160 is slow and crooked, but going over there the third Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in September will give you some of the prettiest fall colors and scenery the area has to offer. The fall festival there celebrates everything hillbilly as the residents let down their hair and have fun in their local celebration with bed races, a quilt show, crafts and demonstrations (spinning, basket weaving, lye soap making, etc.), a turkey shoot, a pet contest, a costume parade, square dancing, and country music jam sessions on the courthouse lawn. Outsiders and flatlanders are welcome! Admission is free.
58. Ozark Mountain Mule & Donkey Days
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 833-2660
Description: Over 500 mules and 100 miniature donkeys will converge at the Fairgrounds to compete in over 60 events in this celebration of the Show-Me state’s official animal. There is no way to actually describe this event. It’s part mule and donkey show, part test of skills, part Wild West show, and pure fun.
59. Laura Ingalls Wilder Festival
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 468-3943
Description: All of Mansfield turns out to celebrate its most famous citizen. The arts and crafts fair is at the homesite of author Laura Ingalls Wilder, famous for her Little House books. There are all sorts of Laura-inspired activities: fiddle contests, pioneer children’s games, costume contests, and an outdoor drama based on Wilder’s books.
60. Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed
City: Branson, MO
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (417) 683-2468
Description: This annual meeting of the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association, the group that promotes the Ozarkian’s horse of choice, always starts on Labor Day and is a six-day event. Thousands of fox-trotting breeders and horse lovers congregate at the Douglas County seat for one of the biggest shows in the nation. You don’t have to own one to enjoy the show, and it’s possible you might get caught by the fox-trotting bug.