On Friday, June 7, 2024 and Saturday, June 8, 2024, the Ozarks Studies Institute, an ongoing initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, will serve as a vendor at the 30th annual Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival in West Plains, MO. The OSI booth will have books and magazines for sale at a table underneath a canopy.

Funded partially by the Missouri Arts Council and the Missouri Folk Arts Program, the festival, which began in 1994, exists to acknowledge talented local performers, save expressive traditions from extinction, and maintain a focus on authenticity. Musicians, artisans, and storytellers from all across Missouri will come together in West Plains to showcase many art forms, including dance fiddling, local jig steps, gospel singing, as well as songs, narratives, and ballads that tell the story of a location. There will also be those practicing blacksmithing, log skidding, spinning and basket making. 

On both Friday and Saturday, the festival will run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Music will start at noon each day, and Old-Time Music will be performed on the stages. Old-Time Music is a genre of North American folk that incorporates several instruments, including fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, and harmonica.