After Teah Bidwell and her husband, John, visited a haunted float attraction in Waynesville, they fell in love with the adventure, spooky atmosphere, and thrill that each scare gave them. Taking a leap of faith, the couple decided to partner with Gracie’s Canoe Camp in Pineville to turn their haunted house business—Skeleton Acres—into an even larger adventure on Elk River: The Elk River Haunted Float.
A night at the Elk River Haunted Float begins at dark with a mysterious bus ride down to the water’s edge. Teah, owner and founder of Elk River Haunted Float, says that once visitors reach the shore, they will be given a paddle, raft, and life jacket. Then, they’re sent out to “face whatever may be lurking in the water.” After surviving the float, visitors board a haunted hayride, which brings them to a creepy wooded trail and then to a series of haunted cabins stuffed with all things spooky and supernatural. Though all visitors travel from the river to the hayride to the haunted cabins, the adventure is new every night and doesn’t run on a set schedule. “Our first year, we had a family come three times,” Teah says. “Throughout the week, I’m like, ‘I want to add something over here. We should do this, this time,’ and it just constantly changes!”
Teah and her crew pride themselves on creating original experiences. “Normal haunted houses tend to push you through a line. We want everybody to truly enjoy it and not have to rush people through,” Teah says. In their third year of running the attraction, it has already become a big hit for thrill seekers all around the state. The business has quickly expanded from Teah’s immediate family to her hiring over 50 actors last season to be able to entertain the large crowds of visitors. “Our actors are very, very good at tailoring scares to the audience,” Teah adds. “I say we’re family friendly, because I want kids to love Halloween and see the joy of the characters and the imagination that goes into it. It is not about trying to make a kid cry. We even have ‘no scare me’ lights that kids can hold.”
After enjoying the one to two hour scare experience, visitors can head home or spend the night at one of the cabins or RV parking locations on-site. The cabins are off limits to scarers, allowing families to settle in for the night after their fix of adventures. For those wanting a little extra scare, don’t worry. Campfires burn late into the night, and if you’re sitting around one, you might just run into a zombie, vampire, or ax murderer.
Gracie’s Canoe Camp is located at 324 Canoe Camp Lane, Pineville, and for more information on the Elk River Haunted Float, visit their website at TheElkRiverHauntedFloat.com.
Anyone Can Metal Craft
Jo Smith discovered his entrepreneurial passion for the metal forging business after competing on the History TV show Forged in Fire: Knife or Death. Now, he is the owner and instructor of Silver Anvil Metal Craft, a family-owned business in Branson that offers metal forging experiences. “We found that people enjoy doing things, not just standing around watching,” Jo says. “We started this business to let people try something new.”
Instructing customers on how to forge knives is a daily part of Jo’s life, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many others.
“My favorite part about instructing is getting to watch people’s faces when they see steel move like modeling clay,” Jo explains. “It’s absolutely hands-on. They get to actually see the hot fire. They get to work steel that’s 2,000 degrees. They’re swinging the hammer. They’re making their knife.”
This attraction is not limited by age or ability. “One of the times that sticks out to me is when we had a young man that had a birth defect,” Jo says. “He had no arms and no legs, and we forged out a knife together. I’ve had people in that are completely blind, and we forge with them. We have people in with wheelchairs and all sorts of handicaps, and we are able to work with them and make sure that they have a good time.”
Jo gives attendees a great experience. “I put on a show, and we have a good time. You know, if I’ve got good energy from the customers, the jokes are coming out,” Jo says.
Forging experiences are by appointment only and can be booked on the Silver Anvil Metal Craft Facebook page. Booking times are available from 10 AM to 7 AM, Mondays through Saturdays, and from noon to 6 PM on Sundays. So, if you are fighting the feeling to forge, head to Silver Anvil Metal Craft.
The Heart of Homecoming
tradition. • University of Missouri Archives
The origin story of homecoming games is found in the heart of Missouri. In 1911, Chester Brewer, University of Missouri’s head football coach, asked alumni to come “home” to Columbia to support Mizzou in a football game against its fiercest rival, the University of Kansas. To raise school spirit and rally alumni, the school hosted a parade and bonfire. It was successful, drawing over 9,000 alumni. The game, considered to be the first college homecoming football game, ended in a 3-3 tie.
One hundred and thirteen years later, Mizzou’s homecoming has grown and is now a storied tradition that takes place the third weekend of October. It’s grown to be a celebration for Columbia, although students still play an instrumental part. For the event, downtown Columbia is festively decorated with colorful murals that are painted by students on storefront windows.
On the Friday night before the game, the school’s Greektown (an on-campus residential neighborhood where most sorority and fraternity members live) hosts a Campus Decorations night, a tradition that was introduced in 1935. Greek organizations exhibit towering displays that they’ve painstakingly made and placed on skids outside their houses. To add to the atmosphere, the streets are filled with food trucks and other vendors.
The spectacular Saturday morning homecoming parade draws participants from all over Missouri, be it nonprofits, political candidates, first responders, marching bands, or performance groups. Greek sororities and fraternities create themed parade floats. With this year’s theme being iconic movies, parade attendees can expect to see floats designed from movies like Wreck-It Ralph, Inside Out, and Tangled, to name a few, according to Megan Fox, one of three 2024 homecoming directors.
After the parade will be the much-anticipated football game of Mizzou versus Auburn University. Attendees are encouraged to wear gold to the game.
There is also a philanthropic aspect to Mizzou’s homecoming, which everyone can be a part of. “We utilize homecoming to give back to our community through the largest student-run blood drive in the nation, record-breaking canned food drives, and service projects,” says Megan. These initiatives take place in the weeks leading up to the homecoming, with the blood drive happening from October 7 to 10 and a canned food drive taking place September 27.
To learn more about the colorful murals, elaborate displays, lively parade, and spirited football game, visit Mizzou during its homecoming. —Natalie-Tan Elizabeth
This article was originally printed in the October 2024 issue of Missouri Life.
