Today's Feature

Festivities Begin Today.

The 41st Annual Maple Leaf Festival, hosted by the Carthage Chamber of Commerce, is scheduled for October 13-20. This year’s festival will kick-off with four events scheduled for Saturday, October 13th, followed by over two dozen events planned throughout the week, leading up to the one-day celebration on Saturday, October 20th.

On Saturday, October 13, the annual Carthage Maple Leaf Bike Ride & Eat Out will be hosted by Joplin Trails Coalition at 7:30 a.m. Registration is at 8:30 a.m. The ride is $15 per person and is 15 miles long. $25 per person for other lengths. Add $5 per rider if paid after September 25. The cost for the Eat- Out is $4.50 for riders, $5.50 for guests. The ride will begin at Kellogg Lake, on Highway 96, east. Registrations may be made at www.joplintrailscoalition.com or by calling 358-5070.

Also on Saturday, the Maple Leaf Little Miss & Mister and Junior Miss Pageants will be held. The event is sponsored by Hometown Bank and will begin at 5:00 p.m in the Carthage High School Auditorium, 714 South Main. The Maple Leaf Queen Pageant will be sponsored by Hometown Bank and will begin at 7:00 p.m. also in the High School Auditorium.

The Carthage High School Alumni Football Game will be held on Saturday as well. Hosted by Carthage R-9 School Foundation, the event costs $2.00 per person and begins at 7:00 p.m. in the K.E. Baker Football Stadium, 13th & River Streets. For more information call 417-359-7000.

On Sunday, October 14 the Maple Leaf 5K Run & Mile Fun Run will be sponsored by Fair Acres Family YMCA, 2600 South Grand. Registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. with the race starting at 2:00 p.m. The cost for the race is $20 per person, which includes a goody bag and t-shirt. $5 extra for registration will be added per participant after October 9. For more info call 417-358-1070.

The bike ride at Kellogg Lake will be the official start of the festival events this year, however, the Maple Leaf Quilt Show has been goin’ on at the Powers Museum since the 10th and will continue through October 31. It’s a free event, sponsored by the Four Corners Quilters Guild. I’m sure with the chilly weather approachin’ ever’one can appreciate a well-made quilt.

Don’t forget the High School Alumni football game on Saturday. It only costs $2 so ever’one should be able to have a good evenin’ of fun. Have the medics ready.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Natural Nutrition
By Mari An Willis

Yucca has been a major food source for some ancient tribes of our Southwest and was mentioned by Euell Gibbons as a tasty addition to tossed salad (buds and flowers). Some Yuccas have soft fruits that are sweet and taste something like dates.

From a nutritional standpoint, Yucca contains high steroid saponins, precursors to cortisone. These saponins improve the body’s ability to produce its own cortisone by supplying materials needed to be manufactured in the adrenal glands. Its constituents also include high amounts of vitamins A, B complex and C. The mineral and salt content includes Calcium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Iron, Manganese and Copper.

Yucca has the effect of strengthening intestinal flora. This wonderful herb is also nature’s best protein purifier, helping the digestion of food by keeping the wrong type of bacteria out of the digestive tract. Yucca reduces the tendency to develop accumulations of undigested toxic wastes which decompose in the colon producing foul smelling gasses.

Arthritics have felt the influence of Yucca as well. Of all the arthritics given Yucca for a year, 60 percent claimed that they felt less swelling, less pain and less stiffness.

Yucca, like other natural medicines, works slowly but surely. The benefits appear more gradually than prescribed drugs but without some of the side effects. The natural steroid saponins improve circulation to the joints. It has been theorized that perhaps the saponins work very much like a deep cleansing soap. The saponins allow oils and water to combine, allowing the fatty buildup in joints to dissipate and be eliminated from the system.

This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. References available by request. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.

artCentral
Art Notes from Hyde House
By Sally Armstrong, Director of artCentral

As promised, I will write today about our second artist, who will be showing her work beginning this Friday October 12th in our MEMBER GALLERY here at the Hyde House. She is Joplin artist Linda Teeter, and her photographs in this show reflect several themes that she has explored over the recent months. The first is a Venetian theme, several beautiful photographs of old Venice, reproduced in a muted and antique way. The second is a group of photographs made of the Zahn building in Joplin showing some unique angles of beautiful architectural details from that old landmark. Then there is a group of architectural elements and details from the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, a theme that artist Marilyn York, showing now in the MAIN GALLERY, has explored as well. Lastly, and very unique, are a group of doors from old New Orleans, taken "pre-Katrina" and each with a colorful, festive quality. Linda has been making her fine-art photographs for a while now, having had some very successful shows in Kansas City of late. She says, of her style, " Digital enhancement of my photography starts with a "good –bones" photograph. Then I use a Photoshop-type program from HP, called photo impressions. I manipulate the photo until I get the look I feel is right to interpret my feelings in the art piece. The difference between my photography and yours may be this enhancement process. I am not a photographer but an artist trained in painting, charcoal, pencil, watercolor and lithography. I use photography as my medium to give the viewer the same effect via the enhancement process. There are several types of enhancement effects that can distort the photography process until the complete work comes alive. When I feel the transition is complete, then it is ready for your eyes." Come and see Linda’s work as well as the beautiful watercolors of Olathe Kansas artist Marilyn York as the show begins this Friday evening with the artists’ Opening at 6:00. This show continues until the 28th.