Towns

Fitness really can be fun! The runners will be in costume. Families can do the one-mile fun run, and there are Halloween adventures on other courses in this picturesque town, too.

Dress up your favorite four-footed best friend and go to the Paw Parade tomorrow on Saturday. There will be prizes for the best costume and an animal-lover fair after the parade. Watch for free.

Just announced by U.S. Census Bureau: Population Center of the United States is now Hartville, MO.

A week before the first Sonic Summer Nights event in Versailles, organizer Travis Kurtz guessed there might be “forty to fifty, or as many as seventy-five” vehicles in the kickoff event, which also doubled as the Darrell Bias Memorial Cruise. You could say Travis was a tad bit off –on his estimate.

On the heels of a season halted by the COVID pandemic, the 2021 MINK League season was especially important as a comeback year, as the teams returned to action, staged promotions to entertain fans, and put some ready-for-prime-time, pro-level skills on display.

The MINK summer collegiate baseball league has six teams in Missouri and two in Iowa, taking care of the M and I in the league name. League Commissioner Ron Rodriquez is hopeful that, soon, the latter part of the league name, N and K, will again represent teams from Nebraska and Kansas.

Explore nature, visit art galleries and museums, and eat plenty of pancakes in Kirksville.

The 2021 Christmas Country Church Tour, set for December 16-17, encompasses more than thirty churches in tiny hamlets, villages, and towns spread across Perry, Bollinger, Ste. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau counties in southeastern Missouri, and one in Kaskaskia, Ill. All but three of the church buildings are more than 100 years old; three churches recently celebrated their 200th anniversaries. Each church on the free, self-guided driving tour is staffed with volunteers eager to share information about the church’s history and traditions.

“Fishing’s not just about catching, it’s about getting out and enjoying the outdoors. Catching fish is a bonus.” Granddad had many sayings like these that helped form a foundation that directly influenced my path in life. I’ve often wondered who—or what—would’ve come of me without that influence so early on. Fishing and life are one in the same if you asked me. The lessons learned on the water most definitely last a lifetime.

St. Joseph is home to iconic places, including Jesse James’s home, the Pony Express birthplace, and the Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp. History flows through this town where museums tell the stories of this westward jumping-off point and where new stories are beginning.

Since the first Stars and Stripes was printed in Bloomfield in 1861, the Department of Defense designated Bloomfield as the birthplace of the Stars and Stripes newspaper. The Missouri Stars and Stripes was printed only once during the Civil War. It wouldn’t see publication again until World War I, when it was an eight-page weekly. Publication stopped after WWI, then for the first nine months of World War II, it was restarted.