Saturday, June 22, the first Taste of Local Missouri event in California drew a constant stream of visitors to the downtown California historic district for the music, food demonstrations and local vendors.
On the warm and humid day, a constant stream of visitors enjoyed the entertainment provided by the local musicians, food demonstrations, and many other booths. Chairs and tables were available for sitting and enjoying food or simply listening to the entertainment.
Those performing included the Marks Family of McGirk, the Jesse Rohrbach Family of Jamestown, Mike Gorman of Apostle's Creek and three college students from California who are majoring in voice, Drew Bolinger, Cassie Meisenheimer and Pax Baker.
Bolinger is a Vocal Music Education major at Missouri State University, Springfield, who will be student teaching at Jefferson City in the fall. Meisenheimer is a Commercial Voice major at Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn. She plans to be make a career of country music.
Baker is a Vocal Performance Major at University of Missouri-Columbia.
Bolinger and Baker performed solo acts. Meisenheimer performed with backup singer Abby Lueckenotte and guitarist John Moore.
Several cooking demonstrations were given by Laura Carter of Missouri Deep Roots, the market chef. In separate demonstrations she demonstrated creation of a white pizza with Burger sausage and local greens, a kale and blueberry salad and the making of strawberry smoothies by child-powered bicycle blender.
Longfellow Garden Center had a variety of plants for sale and a special offer to 'Plant Your Own Container' choosing several plants and soil. One booth was manned by Oak Street Fabrics offering fabrics and more. Another offered a variety of breads, and another offered cheeses made at Owensville.
Other booths included a sauerkraut making demonstration, a variety of locally grown organic vegetables, root beer floats, bottled elderberry syrup, honey ice cream, Aqua Zero Labs with samples of filtered water, 4-H and Girl Scouts informing young people of their organizations.
The Burgers' Smokehouse barbecue grill was on hand with a variety of sandwiches and ribs.