Ozark Mountain Folkfair

This complete issue of River City Review (Vol. III No. 5) was published in Memphis, Tennessee in 1973. It served as the official program guide & souvenir to the first (and only) Ozark Mountain Folk Fair. A series of road maps notes directions from nearby urban centers like St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, Little Rock, and Oklahoma City. They are accompanied by a plan of the grounds, amusing travel recommendations (leave your hassles in the city), and extensive coverage of the music lineup. The Ozark Mountain Folk Fair was a three-day outdoor music festival and craft fair held north of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, over Memorial Day weekend in 1973. It was organized by journalist Edd Jeffords and the Ozark Mountain Folklore Association amid the rising 1960s–70s countercultural and back-to-the-land movements, drawing an estimated up to 30,000 attendees from across the United States to a 120-acre wooded site. The event featured a diverse lineup of rock, blues, bluegrass, gospel, country, and folk performers such as Earl Scruggs, John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; alongside craft vendors, natural foods concessions, and camping areas. Although heavy rains and muddy conditions challenged the festival, it was widely regarded as a cultural success. Plans for annual continuation were thwarted by opposition from some local business, religious, and law-enforcement groups, making the 1973 Folk Fair a unique occurrence, though the Ozark Folk Festival is still going strong (in its 79th year). Source.