The City of Mountain View, Arkansas welcomes everyone to the 60th Annual Arkansas Folk Festival April 15th and 16th. Take a walk around the historic downtown area and see many window displays, the Artisans Market featuring handmade arts and crafts, antique cars, food vendors, and of course, live music! The parade is Saturday and begins at 10 a.m. The Ozark Folk Center has free shuttle service to and from the court square. Bring your instruments and have some fun with us pickin’ and grinnin’!
Established in the 1870s, the town of Mountain View, AR is famous for the preservation of folkways and traditional music. It was natural for the Arkansas Folk Festival to be founded here in the early 1960s, and the Ozark Folk Center State Park followed in 1973.
Music plays a vital part of the aura of the area as, historically, Saturday nights would find locals at a “pickin'” in a neighbor’s house or yard. The custom continues today and once the weather gets warm, musicians join locals and play music late into the night hours outside around the town square. The season is from mid-April through late November. Music is not only vital, it is the soul of the town. There is a determination to keep the tradition alive through programs such as the Music Roots Program, where via the local school system, area musicians teach young people to play the old tunes on traditional string instruments.
Part of the mission of the Ozark Folk Center is to preserve this music as well. In addition to music, Mountain View, Arkansas is home to music stores, antique shops, and places to refuel such as at Tommy’s Famous Pizza, Kin Folks Bar-B-Q, and JoJo’s Catfish. The state’s largest craft cooperative, the Arkansas Craft Guild, is also headquartered in the historic downtown area and has a gallery there. Visitors to Mountain View, Arkansas can also take in a bit of the flavor and culture of the area at the Ozark Folk Center State Park, which preserves Ozark heritage in music, crafts, and herbs, and presents it as living history. The park is also home to Loco Ropes, a state-of-the-art treetop adventure park experience, where you’ll find a ropes course with three different segments totaling more than 30 challenges to test your nerve, endurance, agility, and strength. The town, located deep in the Ozarks is surrounded by mountains and rivers, offering outdoor activities that include caving at Blanchard Springs Caverns and fly fishing on the White River.
The 50-mile Syllamo Mountain Bike Trail is also nearby. The trail is designated by the International Mountain Biking Association as an “Epic Ride,” a status only 37 trails across the nation currently hold. Outside Magazine recently listed the trail as one of the Top 20 Outdoor Destinations. Expect a two-hour drive from Little Rock. Take I-40 W until exit 125, when you hit US 65 North. After about 40 miles, veer right onto AR-9. Follow AR-9 for 35 miles, until you hit Mountain View. Find more information about the Folk Festival.
Cathy Drew is a lifelong resident of the region that she loves to promote. She was born in downtown Batesville in the late ’60s, located in one of the eight counties she now enjoys encouraging people to visit.
Drew became associated with the Ozark Gateway Region in 1990 while working at the ad agency (The Media Market Inc.). The agency handled marketing for the regional association, where she and her co-workers produced an annual tabloid publication. She began working as the Ozark Gateway Region director in June 2000.
After Drew became director, she took the region to the next level by helping the tourism organization create a new website and moved it from the old newspaper paper tabloid publication to a color magazine format. She helped open a visitor center for the Ozark Gateway, allowing visitors to pick up information from the entire state 24/7. Over the years, Drew has helped the organization meet new marketing goals, such as in- and out-of-state marketing, assuring that all 100,000 copies of their magazines are distributed each year.
In 2016, she assisted in creating the first Ozark Gateway Region Golf Classic. The tournament continues to grow each year, allowing the organization to expand its co-op program and helping each county have dedicated promotion. Drew stays busy at Ozark Gateway as the ad sales manager, magazine editor, day-to-day office operations, trade show representative, and magazine distribution representative, all while ensuring that the region is represented all over Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Drew was featured in several local and statewide publications over the years, as well as the 1997 cover of the Ozark Gateway Region tabloid, along with her then 4-year-old son, Jon. She has received several awards, such as the Batesville Rotarian of the Year in 2010 and a three-time Paul Harris Fellow.
She also has served as an Independence County election commissioner for several years. She now serves as their co-election coordinator, helping with behind-the-scenes management of voting equipment, day-to-day election deadlines, and poll worker training.
Drew is Batesville Rotary Club Past President, and is the Rotary Clubs’ current membership chair.
In March of 2018, Drew was honored with induction into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame for her many years of dedicated service to the tourism industry.