Hollister, MO - Grape & Fall Festival

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Dusty managed to find a free festival close by.  Hollister is on the Southeast edge of Branson.

 

This cute train car was just across the road from the festival.

They blocked one street off for this festival. We parked at one end and walked to the other end.  There were a couple of jump houses for kids and a few other games.  Then there were several vendors.  At the opposite end was a big tent with various 30 minute shows playing all day.

This is the Possum Holler Fiddlers.  They range in age from 11-17 years and have played from 1 yr to 6 yrs.  They were really good for their age.
 

Gary Dooms was a fantastic sax player.  He played 3 different sax.  The regular one, a tenor sax and a soprano sax.  It was really great!
Those 2 were our favorite performers.  

Here's a look at the crowds by mid afternoon.

Next we watched the "Grape Stomp". 

They are filling the 4 barrels with grapes from the red trash bin on wheels.  See it on the right side of the picture.

Tic got a close up of the grapes inside the barrels. I said the stems would hurt my feet if I were stomping on them.
 

We got to the event early & were on the front row. Some grapes were dropped on the deck around the barrels. Tic zoomed in on them. The picture below is amazing.

Most of the judges are in togas.  The lady in the center is dressed as a first class maid from the Titanic.
 

Donald Trump even showed up for the Grape Stomp competition.  

There were 4 groups of youths and 4 groups of adults.

Youth group 1 above and youth group 2 below.

Youth group 3 above and youth group 4 below.

This group one first place in the youth group.

About this time Tic saw a drone video recording the Grape Stomp.
 

This is the first adult group.
 

After the first adult group they decided they needed to refresh the grapes to make sure they are good and juicy.
 

Then everything stopped for the Branson Scenic Railway as it passed by.
 

Above is adult group 2 and below is adult group 3.

Adult group 4 called themselves "Embarrassing Parents".  They were the adult group winners.
 

This is all the judges, youth groups and adult groups.  It was fun to watch!
 

We took a different route home and came upon this overlook.  The views both directions (above and below) were gorgeous.  The weather was clear and dry making for wonderful viewing.