Missouri Town 1855 comes alive with fall excitement. Your family will be treated to period appropriate music, food, games and crafts. The mid 19th century country fair will showcase juried pies and jellies. A special children's game area will provide 19th century fun for the kids.

Celebrate the craftsmanship of the Midwest and the heritage of Branson. This is a juried art and craft show, featuring a wide spectrum of crafts from nearly 200 vendors. We have food vendors, seminars, demonstrations, a children’s area, and entertainment. Come to the street dance on Saturday evening. The event takes place in the downtown area.

A day of dog shows, competitions and fun. Many dog breed clubs and vendors are featured. Special demonstrations by Jackson County Sheriff's K9 Unit; search and rescue; and dock diving dogs. There is a special Tails for Trails dog walk. Held at Kemper Outdoor Education Center in Fleming Park.

Downtown Lee’s Summit. German meals, brat tents, biergarten, arts and crafts booths, carnival, three stages of entertainment. (On Sunday, only the carnival will be operating.)

Downtown, you will enjoy the fiddling seminars and other events in the Ozarks Music and Culture Tent. At Branson Landing, on the banks of Lake Taneycomo, there are seminars; vendors; street performances; sidewalk sales; pony rides; a children’s area; food booths; crafts; a square dance; contest; plus Big Smith in concert. Listen to gospel music in front of the fountains at Branson Landing. A free trolley that runs between both locations.

Wander back in time at Alley Spring's annual festival of storytelling, music and traditional crafts. Storytellers weave their spells around you in the darkness of a fall evening. During the day, enjoy demonstrations of traditional Ozark crafts and lifestyles from the 1800s. There is live music, food and lots to see and do. Bring a blanket or chair to sit on.

The Haunting is the same weekend as the big Craft Show in Eminence, so be sure to catch both and make a full weekend of it. Alley Spring is located six miles west of Eminence, on Route 106.

New Madrid is proud to be one of the qualifying tournaments on the Cabela's King Kat Tournament Trail. There are many family friendly activities during the day, including an arts and crafts fair, games for the kids, a Little Miss King Kat Contest, waterfowl and fishing booths. The tournament weigh-in takes place on Main Street around 4 p.m.

Family-friendly, environmental education programs presented by our naturalists, using snakes, parrots, birds and mammals to teach you about the amazing creatures that share our planet, and what we can do to help them survive. Presented every Saturday and Sunday, Memorial Day to Labor Day, at the World Bird Sanctuary. Admission is free.

Experience the past with Laura Ingalls Wilder as she reminisces about her childhood, pioneer days, her incredible family, and her beloved Almanzo. Laura’s life unfolds through a live theater production that culminates on that momentous day in 1951 when Mansfield dedicated its library in her honor. Laura’s Memories captures Mrs. Wilder’s journeys through Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakota Territory, Kansas, and finally Mansfield, Missouri where Laura and Almanzo spent their remaining years. Our pageant is a family oriented production. Proceeds go to high school scholarships for participating students. Performed by the Ozark Mountain Players, under the starry canopy of the Ozark sky. T Concessions are available.

Presented (rain or shine) in Mansfield’s Recreational Park; 45 minutes east of Springfield, on Route 60. Admission: $7; ages 5-11, $3. Group discounts are available.

A joyful tea filled with the blessings of fall produce and scrumptious recipes boasting fall fruits. If fall is one of your favorite seasons, this tea party will be a memory cherished with friends and family. At Anna Marie's Tea Shop.

Begin the Christmas season at a tea party in the Frank Lloyd Wright inspired 1913 home, winsomely decorated with old English emphasis. Gather over a cup of Christmas tea at Anna Marie's Tea Shop; relax and enjoy conversation in laughter-filled rooms. A full formal tea party with an English themed menu and plenty of time to tour the floors of the home. The host and hostess are dressed in vintage old English attire. Take a tour of The Terrace Avenue Inn bed and breakfast, built in 1923. The Colonial Dutch home is fully festooned in Christmas decor. The final tea (Dec. 11) will be a formal children's tea.

Friends, tea party, costumes and the annual Cemetery Crawl; come as you like or dress for the occasion. A whimsical Halloween tea party at Anna Marie's Tea Shop, complete with a delicious fall flavored premium tea and some simply scary (yet delicious) tea foods. Bring your "ghoul-friends" and enjoy yourselves. Tour the historical Fairview pre-civil war cemetery on the Cemetery Crawl. Don't be surprised if you hear hysterical laughter coming from the kitchen...

Begin your holiday season with a high tea and Christmas Craft Class at Anna Marie's Tea Shop. In the 1913 Carriage House, create beautiful Christmas swags of artificial greens, preserved leaves and berries. Sip hot cinnamon spiced tea and enjoy Christmas carols. After crafting, we look forward to escorting you inside Brenda's home for a full autumn tea party. Dress according to the weather because the Carriage House can be cool.

It's thrilling...it's chilling...it's Halloween at Missouri Town 1855. Only luminaries light the way in this eerie 1850s village. Walk through the moonlit town, if you dare, and hear spine-tingling tales more than a century old. Wood fires burn and witches’ cauldrons churn. Children's games; storytelling around bonfires; trick-or-treating; and haunted hayrides are just a part of the spooktastic time awaiting you.

The long, dark road takes you there. Be frightened, be alert, be aware. Untamed creatures wait for your arrival. Beg, plead, pray for your survival. A trail of terror tries to deceive you, but trust your instincts to lead you out. You feel the thrill, but your spirit is part of the haunted hill. Feel the thrill at our 20-minute outdoor walk-thru trail, with thrills around every turn . . . if you dare.

Mark Twain Lake will be the site of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Replica, The Wall That Heals Exhibit, This exhibit features a 250-foot replica of the original Memorial in Washington, D.C. It addresses not only the loss of more than 58,000 men and women whose names are inscribed on The Wall...our parents, children, neighbors and friends. The exhibit allows those heroes enshrined on the Memorial to return symbolically to the places they called home, to exist among friends and family once more in the comfort and peace of familiar surroundings.

If you made a list of performers who have sold more than 53 million records, won multiple Grammys for Best Male Vocalist and countless other honors, earned a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and sold out arenas worldwide, Michael Bolton would be on that list. If you tallied all the artists who've sung with Luciano Pavarotti and Ray Charles, written songs with Bob Dylan, Ne-Yo and Lady Gaga, penned hits for Barbra Streisand and KISS, played guitar with B.B. King and had music recorded by Kanye West, Michael Bolton would be the only name on that list. Showtime at The Mansion Theatre: 8 p.m.

Gospel music with The Lesters; Triumphant Quartet; Mark Bishop; Greater Vision; Jimmy Blackwood and The Blackwood Brothers; Big Mo; Karen Peck and New River; Dove Brothers; Dixie Echoes; The Greenes; Down East Boys; Talley Trio; Tim Lovelace; Jerry and Lil' Jan Goff; Brian Free and Assurance; New Horizons; Todd Allen Family; and Kirk Talley. This music festival takes place in the ballroom at Meramec Caverns.

Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater sizzles with Branson’s 17th Annual Hot Winter Fun Big Show. This is the perfect event to sample a wide variety of Branson’s shows and performers jam-packed into one exciting show. The Big Show is emceed by Bob Leftridge of the Baldknobbers Jamboree. Shows on stage include Jim Stafford; Legends In Concert; Hughes Brothers Show; Pierce Arrow; Kirby Van Burch; Cassandre’- the Voice of an Angel; Circle B Supper Show; Clay Cooper; Grand Jubilee; Keith Red Allen; Tony Roi; Smoke On The Mountain; Absolutely Pasty Cline; Buckets N Boards; Comedy Jamboree; Red, Hot, and Blue; Rock N Roll is Here to Stay; Rock U Mentally; Top 10 Rock and Roll Revue. 

Show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets: $30; ages 4-12, $10.

Birds in Concert, sponsored by Ameren UE, features the World Bird Sanctuary’s in-house band, “The Raptor Project.” The performances are every Thursday evening in August, from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m., at the World Bird Sanctuary Amphitheater, 125 Bald Eagle Ridge Road in Valley Park. The group performs songs from its popular children’s environmental education CDs while birds fly just inches overhead. Fun songs include “Turkey Named Fred,” “Roadkill Shiver,” “What’s the Matter,” “Animal Noises,” and others. “Raptor Project” performances are followed by performances by local artists such as Javier Mendoza, The Rebounds and others. Admission and parking are free. No reservations required. Call 636-225-4390 ext. 0, or visit the Web site for more information.

The Crappie Masters National Championship will be held on Truman Lake, just south of Clinton, Oct. 5-10, 2010. Hundreds of fishermen and families will attend from multiple states. Activities include a boat parade, two days of highly competitive fishing, a media-fish off, kids' rodeo and Bass Pro Shops Crappie Masters National Kids Fishing Championship.

Saturday take off from Spring Creek Resort dock at 6:30 a.m., weigh in at 5:30 p.m.; Sunday take off at 6:30 a.m., weigh in at 11 a.m.; prizes and trophies, Sunday, 11:30 a.m. Meals included in entry fee. Chili dinner Friday night. Saturday: breakfast 6 a.m.; steak dinner, 7 p.m. Sunday: breakfast 6 a.m. Entry fee, $90 per team. Held at Spring Creek Resort.

A fishing tournament on Lake Taneycomo at Lilleys’ Landing Resort and Marina. Two-man teams: $75 entry fee. Prizes for 1st through 3rd place, and for big fish. Each boat gets one raffle ticket; additional raffle tickets are $5. If you register before the tournament day, you get one extra raffle ticket. A free meal is provided after the weigh-in. Proceeds benefit the Branson Fire and Police auxiliary funds.

Missouri Town 1855 becomes the site of pre-Civil War hostilities as pro- and anti-slavery factions battle for dominance in the late 1850s. The action is not of large armies but of farmer against farmer, family against family. The antebellum architecture of Missouri Town provides the perfect backdrop for this powerful event on the advent of the Civil War sesquicentennial.