Ozark Folk Center State Park Opens April 1st! Bring your family and join them!

Starting April 1, the Homespun Gift Shop, General Store, Smokehouse and the Craft Village at the Ozark Folk Center State Park open for the 2015 season. The Village is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Visit with more than 20 crafts people as they create pottery, knives, quilts, blackpowder rifles, jewelry, brooms, baskets and so much more.The crafts represented at the park reflect the history, resources and traditions of the Ozark Highlands region.

Regular admission to the Craft Village is $12 for adults and $7 for children 6 to 12. Children under 6 are free. A season pass is just $75 for adults and $35 for children. This pass gives you admission to the Village and evening concerts, (excluding Celebrity Concerts), including the more than 25 featured concerts, new this year.

The Village features smooth rock walkways and seating walls to make your visit more enjoyable. The Heritage Herb Garden is throughout the park with new garden spaces next to the workshops, many of them featuring plants associated with that craft. A daily noon program on the Bessie Moore Deck offers the chance to meet characters from the past or learn more about the gardens and crafts. Live acoustic music is performed throughout the day on the Blacksmith Stage at the top of the hill.

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There’s Still Room for You in the Medicinal Herb Workshop
This minute I am anticipating walking the woods with friends and mentors during the Medicinal Herb Field Trip and Workshop coming up the first Friday and Saturday of April. Every spring I get the fever to smell the warming soil and look at all of the plants that are awakening to grow another season. It is like a family reunion to find all of the familiar friends. “Oh look at all the toothwort popping up” and “Over there, see that colony of mayapples?”

To set out with herbalists and field biologists with the expertise of Sasha Daucus and Bo Brown adds volumes to a personal knowledge base. To walk with Doug Elliott is a dream-come-true. I have been reading his works in the Wild Foods Forum since the 90s! He explores all the natural areas in his travels and lives his work—Doug is going to bring a fresh and humorous perspective to our adventure. Equally skilled is the youngest member of this year’s wild entourage, John Michael Kelley. He is a serious young naturalist. I would not be afraid to be in the wilderness with any of these teachers.

I am looking forward to tasting fermented foods and beverages, artfully prepared by Susan Belsinger and Shawn Hoefer. Our ancestors made kraut and root beer out of plant parts, maybe some salt and airborne bacteria. These foods are rich in nutrition and friendly flora for absorbing those vitamins and minerals. We will be learning just how easy it is to make our own fermented foods and why this way of processing vegetables and fruits is sweeping the nation.

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Skillet Restaurant Open This Week

For the finest food and most enjoyable atmosphere in the region, bring your appetite to the Skillet Restaurant at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Ranked in 2014 as one of the top ten restaurants in the United States to eat Thanksgiving dinner by CNN, the Skillet is nestled atop a wooded Ozark hill. Large windows in the glass-enclosed, natural cedar and stone dining room frame the view of the surrounding butterfly garden. The garden features wildlife feeding stations and is frequented by birds, raccoons, foxes, and an occasional bear. While taking in this natural scenery outside, enjoy the tasty Southern country menu, weekend buffets, and numerous special events.

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Volunteer Cleanup Day is High Energy Fun

Want to spend a day with family and friends and find out what is new at the Ozark Folk Center State Park? Join us for our Volunteer Cleanup Day on Saturday, March 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. We’ll meet at the Administration Building to start.

Bringing together the barn-raising spirit, spring fever and the spring cleaning urge, volunteers come from far and wide to help us put the finishing touch on our park before we open. We’ve had folks from Colorado, Maryland, Oregon and Louisiana chipping in to scrub walls, paint window and weed gardens right next to our neighbors from down the street.

Some of the projects are planned, like scrubbing the outside of every window in the village, hanging the pictures in the General Store, dusting the School House or planting the garden around some of the craft workshops. Others take stock of volunteer’s strengths like painting shop signs or rebuilding displays. Some volunteers run drinks, tools and messages to other helpers. Musicians who want to practice and warm up their acts after the long winter can perform on the outdoor stage and add energy to the event.

April Music Schedule Announced

With the opening of the park, comes the sounds of mountain music. Every Tuesday-Saturday, starting April 1, you’ll hear Ozark folk music performed on the Blacksmith Stage at 10:15,11:15, 12:15, 1:45, 2:45, 3:45.