A new Heritage Pie category, requiring entries to include a written story alongside a recipe, will highlight the seventh annual Pie Competition at this year's Ozark Heritage Festival.
The 32nd annual festival celebrating Ozark music and culture will take place Oct. 16 and 17 in downtown West Plains, running from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. both days around the West Plains Civic Center. Admission to all festival events is free.
Bakers entering the new Heritage Pie category will compete alongside standard adult categories — fruit, savory and cream or custard — as well as a Youth Division for bakers 15 and younger.
Entrants must bring homemade "from scratch" pies in non-returnable tins to the Redbud Room at the civic center between 10 and 10:45 a.m. Oct. 17. Multiple entries per category are allowed, and organizers request recipes be included for future promotion.
Youth Division prizes, sponsored by David P. Evans, feature $30 for first place, $20 for second and $10 for third, with an inscribed pie plate for the winner. Adult category winners will receive $50, $30 and $20 for first through third place, respectively, plus an inscribed pie plate for first place. The grand prize winner across all categories will receive $100 and a commemorative pie plate.
Judging begins shortly after registration closes, with winners announced and samples served at 12:45 p.m. Oct. 17 under the festival's Brush Arbor. Entrants must be present for the awards.
The Brush Arbor will feature a full schedule of traditional Ozark heritage programming from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, including tastings of jams, jellies, butters and ice cream made from wild fruit and native plants.
The Brush Arbor schedule opens at 10 a.m. Oct. 17 with performances by youth from Arts on the Avenue's Rising Stars program, directed by Joanne Hall. At 11 a.m., the Fine Arts Academy will present a digital-source drama about West Plains founder Josiah Howell, directed by Erin Kimbrough.
Following the pie awards, a traditional brush arbor sing-along featuring shape-note, a cappella and four-part hymns will run from 2 to 4 p.m. Song leaders Wayne Stewart of Dawt and Doug Bean of Elijah will lead the singing, and hymnals will be provided for audience participation.
The festival is presented by the West Plains Council on the Arts, the City of West Plains, the Ozark Heritage Welcome Center, the West Plains Civic Center, Missouri Humanities and Missouri State University-West Plains, with financial support from the Missouri Arts Council.
For more information, email info@westplainsarts.org, visit oldtimemusic.org or follow @old.time.music.festival on Facebook.
