I’ve wanted to attend the annual Hootin and Hollerin festival, held in Gainesville, Missouri, for a long time, and I finally got to go this past September.
We showed up just in time for the Saturday afternoon parade, which featured a float with the queen and her court, wearing dresses similar to what I would have worn in high school to homecoming in the 1970s. (That would be very Jessica Gunne Sax style.) I also saw, for the first time, Central High School’s Kiltie Drum & Bugle Corps, out of Springfield, Missouri.
I was surprised at the crush of people who showed up, especially in above average temperatures. There were thousands of them everywhere, and all ages. Centered around the town square, the festival offered what typical festivals offer – meaning vendors that sold leatherworks, kettle corn and homemade craft items. The festival also offered a quilt show with the “people’s choice” award available for voting.
One of the vendor’s Darrell Wolf, out of Squires, Missouri, made brooms. Darrell owns Wolf’s Broom Shop – really he operates out of his basement in his home. He says he goes to a whopping two festivals a year and maybe makes a couple hundred brooms. However, he showed up, dressed the part of a homesteader from two centuries ago, and showed people how he constructed brooms.
Of course, I had to buy one – the “Quidditch” model, as I call it. It’s a regular witch’s broomstick, similar to what you might have seen in a Quidditch match in “Harry Potter.” It came complete with a plastic spider attached. Someday, I’d like to visit Darrell and see the process, start-to-finish, of making a broom. And I must say, the two homemade brooms that I have purchased over the years far surpass anything store bought. (I use the Quidditch broom by a basement entrance, and it works well to get into crevices because of its shape. And right now, it’s quite a good Halloween prop, too!)
History of Hootin and Hollerin
Darrell embodies the whole purpose that the Hootin and Hollerin festival began – back in 1960 when leaders of the Gainesville community asked for ideas on putting on a folk festival. According to a chapter written by Addie Lee Lister, in the “A History of Ozark County 1841 – 1991,” she wrote, “No one spoke up, so I offered my thoughts concerning a folk festival at which people in the country would display their skills while at the same time, it would be a place for others to come and watch them.” She said that Tom Ayers, director of the Ozark Playground Association, who was at this meeting, said, “This is a good idea. Why don’t you be chairman of the group to pursue this?”
She accepted the challenge. In her recollection of the festival, Addie recalled that the first suggested name, Hooting and Hollering, “finally got boiled down to Hootin and Hollerin.” She said that for the first festival, they dragged old platforms over from the skating rink to use for the square dancers. About the platforms, she said, “One had a corner which had been under a leak and had rotted off. The dancers had to be warned that they might break a leg it they danced too close to that corner!”
Addie describes the growth of the festival – from the health department dictating that the festival could no longer make molasses unless it provided a screened-in facility to the antics involved in puchasing a still for moonshine making, and later, getting all sorts of advice from onlookers as to how to assemble it.
That chapter makes good reading, and shows the evolution of this fun festival with a renowned reputation in the Ozarks. For example, Addie wrote that in 1964, the festival added a beauty queen pageant, and Bob Barker (Yes, the emcee from “The Price is Right.”) chose Pam Carter from photos sent to him of 10 women. The next year, another actor, Bob Cummings, chose Barbara Mahan.
This year’s festival included parades, bed races, outhouse races, a cornhole tournament, the aforementioned queen pageant, children’s pageants, terrapin races, a pet show, gun and archery shoot, pie contest, music, square dancing and calling (for hogs, turkeys and husbands) contests.
Hootin and Hollerin Husband Callin’ Contest
I was particularly interested in the husband calling contest, and rather disappointed to see only two women competed.
I talked to the winner, Bethany Schneider, from Thornfield, afterward. This was her second win in this category. Last year one of the event’s committee members asked her to participate, since they didn’t have “enough husband callers.” She said, “So it was the spur of the moment that I came up with my call. This year they had my picture in the Hootin and Hollerin program and so I thought, ‘I can’t not enter now!’”
Last year’s call went like this: “Billy Bob, you get back in here. Dinner’s on the table. The beer is cold and the sheets are CLEEEEEN!”
This year’s husband-call pierced the air with this rendition: “You git your fanny in here. The game is on, the beer is cold and the wings are HOT!”
“I’m going to do it again next year” said Bethany. “My goal is to be a five-time husband calling champion and then, maybe I’ll retire and let someone else carry the glory.”
Learn more about Hootin and Hollerin.
