The 59th Annual Dogwood Festival

Celebrate “The Simple Life” and enjoy good old-fashioned family fun at Camdenton’s 59th annual Dogwood Festival, April 16-19, at the Lake of the Ozarks. The granddaddy of all the Lake-area festivals, the Dogwood Festival will take place in various locations in and around Camdenton, offering music, food, crafts, a carnival, art, beauty pageants, a parade and much, much more.

“We chose the theme, ‘Celebrate the Simple Life,’ to honor small-town, back-to-basics living,” says Denise Bennette, festival publicity chairperson and owner of Kon-Tiki Resort. “Although it attracts about 10,000 visitors, the Dogwood Festival has an authentic, old-fashioned small-town flavor that appeals to all ages.”

As in previous years, the festival will kick off with a carnival at the Camdenton Middle School parking lot, 5-10 p.m., Thursday. The carnival will continue 5-10 p.m., Friday, and 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday. Wristbands, good from 6- 9 p.m., will be $17 per person each day. Also beginning on Thursday, the Camden County Museum will offer its traditional dinner theater at 5:30 p.m., followed at 7 p.m. by the riotous melodrama, “A Golden Fleecing,” featuring the antics of Clem Chowder of Skunk County and other oddball characters. The dinner theater also will be offered Friday and Saturday. Tickets will be $15 per person.

Also on Thursday, the Senior (65+) Mr. and Ms. Dogwood Contest will take place at noon at the Quails Nest Motel. The day’s finale will be the Camdenton Education Foundation’s “An Elegant Evening,” 6-8:30 p.m., at Camdenton High School, showcasing the talents of students of the Camdenton R-III Schools and honoring five outstanding alumni. Tickets will be $50 per person.

Friday will kick off with two big garage sales: St. Anthony’s, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday, and 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday; and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Friday, and 8 a.m.-noon, Saturday. From 4-7 p.m., the popular Camdenton Lion’s Club Fish Fry at the Middle School cafeteria will attract hungry festival-goers. Tickets will be adults $8, kids 4-12 $5, 3 and under free. The Little Mister, Little Miss, Junior Miss and Teen Miss Dogwood contests also will take place Friday at the Camdenton Middle School Little Theater, while the Miss Dogwood Pageant will be held at the Camdenton High School auditorium. Both free-admission events will start at 7 p.m. And the amazing, always-anticipated array of food and craft booths will be open for business at the Middle School parking lot, 5:30-9 p.m., continuing Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Rockers “Echoes Origin” will entertain the crowds there 7-10 p.m., Friday.

On Saturday, visitors can start their day with a hearty pancake breakfast and craft sale, 6:30 - 9:30 a.m. at United Methodist Church; adults $5, kids 8-12 $1, under 8 free. Afterwards, the much-anticipated Dogwood Parade will kick off in downtown Camdenton at 10 a.m. This year the Grand Marshal will be Camden County native Joyce Mace, co-founder of Lee Mace’s Ozark Opry, which entertained generations of Lake-area visitors from 1953 to 2005. The colorful parade will feature more than 100 units, including floats, marching bands, equestrians, Shriners, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and other riding and walking groups. “The parade always is a blast. The whole town shows up for it,” Bennette says. “If you live in Camdenton, if you’re not in it, you’re watching it.”

Saturday also will feature the second annual Dogwood 5k Fun Run/Walk, starting at 7 a.m. at Linn Creek Industrial Park; registration will open at 6 a.m. Personable pooches will compete for barking rights in the Dogwood Dog Contest, 3-4:30 p.m. at the Middle School parking lot. That’s also the location of free entertainment from 12:30-10 p.m. Saturday, spotlighting gymnastics, dance, clowns and music by Spencer Creek Home, 2-3 p.m., Karen Kelly Presents “Dog Show,” 3-4:30 p.m., Jen and Jess gospel sounds, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Last Chance classic rock, 5:30-6:30 p.m., and G-O-Rilla Karaoke, 6:30-10 p.m. At 7 p.m., the Band Booster Silent Auction will begin at Mexicali Blues restaurant in Osage Beach.

On Sunday, the Dogwood Festival will wrap up with the annual Dogwood Golf Classic at Old Kinderhook, preceded by a lunch for tournament participants. The registration fee will be $100 and include lunch, cart and fees. All proceeds will benefit the Band Boosters. At 2 p.m. at Camdenton High School, “Music for Medicine,” organized by eighth-grader Kyle Gulshen, will feature performances by several local musicians as well as Kyle’s 16-year-old cousin and internationally acclaimed cellist, Gabriel Cabezas. Tickets will be adults $10, students $5, with proceeds benefiting Medical Missions for Christ.

As part of the Dogwood Festival, visitors also will enjoy a fine arts show and sale at First National Bank, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, as well as an exhibit and silent auction featuring the winning entries in the Lake Area Woodworkers Guild competition, 5:30-9 p.m. nightly at the Camden County Museum.

2009 Dogwood Festival platinum sponsors include U.S. Cellular, Central Bank of Lake of the Ozarks, First National Bank, Laclede Electric; gold sponsors are Allied Waste Services, KCLQ-107.9 The Coyote, KRMS Radio, KS-95 Radio, Mix 92.7/KOOL 102.7, Laclede Electric Cooperative, Lake Regional Health System, Ozark Coca-Cola/Dr. Pepper and Sleep Inn & Suites.

“The Dogwood Festival offers a rare opportunity to come out and see your neighbors and experience a good old-fashioned get-together,” Bennette says. “We invite everyone to come to Camdenton and celebrate the simple life and the arrival of spring with us.”

For more details about the Dogwood Festival, including the most current schedule of events, visit www.CamdentonChamber.com/DogwoodFestival or contact the Camdenton Area Chamber of Commerce at (800) 769-1004 or (573) 346-2227. And for more information about other family-friendly events, plus lodging, dining, attractions and shopping at Central Missouri’s famous Lake of the Ozarks, please call 1-800-FUN-LAKE or visit the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitor Bureau’s web site, www.funlake.com