Michelle Mann OZARK — A salute to the agricultural backbone of the community is making its debut at the 53rd Claybank Jamboree and Arts and Crafts Show held in downtown Ozark on Saturday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The inaugural Farmer for a Day experience will include an opportunity to dig peanuts, gather eggs, grind corn, rope a cow, and see a working cotton gin at the Young Farmers tents. At the Dale County Extension Services tent, visitors will be able to play “Get Moving,” pick up recipes, and meet Sammy Soil and Ruby Raindrop.
Simpson is owner of the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe at the intersection of Highways 231 and 27 in Ozark. Last year, she put out the call for quilts to display and worked with Dustin Case from D.C. Welding and Equipment Repair, who created the metal quilt display frames, and Ozark Heritage Association Board Member John Runkle, who created hanging quilt display trowels.
Saturday is also the Annual Claybank "Crazy Socks" 5K Run and Walk at Ed Lisenby Lake in Ozark. The fundraising event benefits the scholarship program at Vivian B. Adams School. Registration begins at 7 a.m. and the race begins at 8 a.m. To preregister contact Susan Owens at 618-5189 or susanowens7634@gmail.com.
Now a chamber of commerce-sponsored event, Claybank Jamboree was initiated five decades ago by a group of downtown merchants led by Betty Brown, owner of the now-defunct Betty’s Book and Gift Shop, according to Jeanette Sheppard Reeves, a former downtown business owner who served as Ozark chamber director for 14 years starting in 1995. “There was a merchants’ association and Betty Brown led the movement to get the jamboree started,” she said.
Downtown Ozark is now designated as an “entertainment district” and an amphitheater with green space has been built on the site of the buildings destroyed by the storms of decades ago.