Hands-on History  

Outdoor

Activities

Festival displays include hands-on art, live Cavalry horses, cannon and musket firings, quilting, period music, Civil War cooking and more 

Civil War cooking will be among the interactive historical displays | Image: U.S. Library of Congress

        The 2011 Missouri Literary Festival: The Civil War will offer an ongoing series of interactive historical/ cultural displays, demonstrations and activities in Jordan Valley Park, adjacent to The Creamery Arts Center.

        Initially, these events were planned for Saturday Sept. 24 and Sunday Sept. 25 only; however, because local schoolchildren will be out of class on Friday, Sept. 23, the outdoor interactive displays have been expanded to all three days of the festival, Sept. 23-25.

        Exhibits and programs will be housed in tents throughout Jordan Valley Park. Visitors will enjoy live music; hands-on art activities; readings of local historical accounts, diaries and letters; and programs focused on how people lived and fought during the Civil War.

        Visit the Medical Tent to learn what happened to the sick and injured; see period cooking methods over an open fire at the Cooking Tent, and learn about the life of the typical soldier - how he lived, dressed, fought and traveled - at the Common Soldier Tent.  

        See live horses and learn about the life of a warhorse at the Cavalry Tent; experience cannon and musket firings at the Armaments Tent, and try your hand at a time-honored handcraft at the Quilting Tent.

        Children will learn to make handkerchief dolls and Civil War badges at the Make-and-Take Art Activities tent, while storytellers and live musicians share the homespun entertainments of the period.  

        Individuals and families will also have the option, for a small additional fee, of having their photos taken in costume against a historic Springfield backdrop, with finished prints provided on the spot.

        Of course, festival style food and drink will be available for purchase, and a full range of authors' programs will be taking place daily inside The Creamery, including appearances by such literary giants as NY Times Best-selling novelist Jeff Shaara and Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian William C. Davis.

        For more information on festival programs, please visit our website at

www.missouriliteraryfestival.org 

, or contact Board Chairman William Brandon Bowman at (417) 865-0450.

Missouri Humanities Council

funds SRAC's 2011 Missouri Literary Festival 

        Springfield Regional Arts Council is pleased to announce that the Missouri Humanities Council (MHC) has awarded a grant of $9,617 to SRAC for its project, the 2011 Missouri Literary Festival: The Civil War, to be held Sept. 23, 24 & 25 at The Creamery Arts Center and Jordan Valley Park. The Missouri Humanities Council is the only state-wide agency in Missouri devoted exclusively to humanities education for citizens of all ages. It has served as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities since 1971.

        The 2011 Missouri Literary Festival: The Civil War features famed novelist Jeff Shaara, author of "Gods and Generals" and "The Last Full Measure," Civil War Historian William C. Davis, author of "The Battle of Bull Run"; historical novelist Janis Cooke Newman, author of "Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln"; Springfield novelist Steve Yates, author of "Morkan's Quarry"; children's authors Kate Klise and Judy Young, and many more.

        The Literary Festival also includes art and writing contests for schoolchildren; a short fiction contest; a concert of Civil War Hymns by the Voices of Deliverance Choir; interactive historical displays including cannon and musket firings, a Cavalry Tent display with horses, hands-on crafts, quilting, live music and displays on Civil War medicine, cooking and the life of the common soldier; a performance of "The Rhythm is Keeping Us Alive: A Celebration of African American Poetry" and more. Tickets are $5 for age 11 and up, free for children 10 and under.  

        For more information, please visit www.missouriliteraryfestival.org. For more information about the grants program of the Missouri Humanities Council, please call (314) 781-9660 or (800) 357-0909, or write to the MHC at 543 Hanley Industrial Court, Suite 205, St. Louis, MO 63144-1905.

Cavalry Charge!   

Iconic horse statues,
donated by Obelisk Home, 

draw attention to  

Festival, Civil War theme  

Obelisk Home has donated 40 beautiful horse statues to promote the Literary Festival in the community | Photo by C.A. French

        After inspiring art and writing projects by local schoolchildren this spring, a formation of Cavalry horses is poised to take the 2011 Missouri Literary Festival: The Civil War to the public in the months ahead.

        Donated by Obelisk Home, these 40 striking equine statues will be deployed to various locations in the community along with information about the 2011 Missouri Literary Festival: The Civil War. Our Cavalry mounts will then be assigned the duty of welcoming guests to the festival itself.    

        It has been said that there is a symbolic code in the design of  equestrian statuary. The placement of the horse's feet is said to indicate the fate of its rider: If one hoof is raised, the rider was wounded in battle; if two hooves are raised, the rider died in battle; and if all four hooves are on the ground, the rider survived all battles. This code is not universal, but  it is about 99 percent accurate in regard to the equestrian statues at Gettysburg. The sole exception is the statue of James Longstreet, who was unwounded at Gettysburg, yet whose horse is depicted with one hoof raised.  

        Regardless of symbolism, these lovely, pristine horses - with one hoof raised -  make wonderful ambassadors for the Literary Festival and its Civil War theme! A limited number of these noble steeds may be purchased at $65. Sales go to the Literary Festival and its benefiting charities in art, literature and literacy.  

        Each statue is of white resin, measuring 30 inches in height and 30 inches in length. If you would like to make one of these elegant creatures your own, please contact Festival Chairman William Brandon Bowman at 865-0450.  

        Any horses remaining at the end of the festival will be rounded up and offered at silent auction during the Meet the Authors Gala Sept. 24. featuring music by Marideth Sisco and Blackberry Winter, as seen in the Oscar-nominated "Winter's Bone."   

   

Thank You to

Our 2011 Sponsors

Raj Anand, M.D.

Ross and Sally Ausburn

W.D. Blackmon, Ph.D.

William Brandon Bowman

Jason Brown

Virginia C. Bussey

Conco Companies

John and Janet Crow

Tom Finnie

Gary Funk, D. Ed.

Ted Hillmer

Sarah Hitesman

Cynthia Hollander

Hazelrigg, Roberts & Easley, P.C.

J. Terry Johnson

Ruth Kelley

Kelly Knauer

Irma J. Leidig

Richard, M.D. and Faye Loeb

Gordon McCann

Lynn Meinhardt

Missouri Humanities Council 

Stephanie Stenger Montgomery

Tad and Juli Moseley

Wally and Joyce Munden
Musgrave Foundation 

Linda Peacock

Marilyn Quigley

William Garrett Piston, Ph.D.

and Nancy Wall Piston

Positronic Industries

Dale and Sarah Sandy

Sarah Sandy - Silpada Designs

James Sauer, M.D.,

and Peggy Sauer

Southwest Audio/Visual 

Michael Sowers

Springfield/Greene County

Library District

Springfield/Greene County Parks

Mary Nell Stamatis

Ronald K. Stenger

Pamela Temple Tynes

Tal and Rosalie O'Reilly Wooten

Family Foundation

Would you like to join our sponsors in supporting the 2011 Missouri Literary Festival: The Civil War? Please contact Board Chairman William Brandon Bowman at (417) 865-0450.