How many businesses make it to 100 years old? According to a 2021 online article published by Family Capital, approximately 1,000 businesses, or less than one-half of 1% of all businesses in the United States have survived more than 100 years. In Columbia, Booches comes to mind. And up on Broadway, a 150th birthday bash […]
Assignment: Family Farm Visit The Location: Rural Shelby County My family owns a small chunk of land near Shelbyville, Missouri. I grew up hunting, fishing and cutting a lot of wood on that land. It’s very scenic with big old oak and walnut trees that speckle the rolling hills of tall grass. I’ve spent many days sitting […]
Assignment: Fiddle & Stone Bakery The Location: Rural Boone County I had a nice surprise while photographing Chris Foley making bread in his wood-fired oven near a garden in rural Boone County. There was an active hive of bees nearby. When I was growing up, my dad raised a few hives of honeybees in the woods behind […]
She was voted least likely to ever tend bar, according to her obituary. Not so fast. If you live to be 102, you can pack in a lot of living. Margaret Moyer left this world a year ago. She was a mother, nurse, U.S. Navy veteran and, yes, a bartender. When Margaret and Richard Moyer […]
Assignment: Roaming The Location: Shelbyville, Missouri My family owns some farmland just outside of Shelbyville. We use the land for hunting and fishing, and usually harvest hay on a big chunk of the property. This year, we decided not to harvest hay and instead let nature do what she wants with the land. So when I stopped […]
Photo by L.G. Patterson Good fences. Good neighbors. Melody and Fred Parry have been our neighbors for four decades. We first became neighbors when they moved into a house across the street from my wife and I. Immediately, Melody arranged to build a white picket fence. I don’t think she did it to keep us out. […]
Assignment: Flower Arranging The Location: Columbia Area Career Center While working on my University of Missouri class schedule my junior year, the late great Walter Johnson insisted that I take two specific classes offered by the university. The first was Shakespeare. I took his advice, and it surprised me how much I enjoyed reading Shakespeare’s […]
It’s a good bet you have a place in your house for storage, where you keep things you haven’t used in many years.It could be in your garage or your basement, maybe a back room or a shed.Mixed into the stacks and piles are items that have fallen from everyday use: the old dining room […]
Assignment: Cutest Pets Contest winners The Location: Zimmer Communications Photographing animals can be easy, fun and challenging. For this issue of Inside Columbia magazine, I got the opportunity to take photos of a cat (easy), two dogs (fun) and a ferret (challenging). Surprisingly, the cat was mellow and regal. She sat on her perch watching […]
Elsewhere on these pages you will find the winners of Inside Columbia’s Cutest Pet Contest. It’s a fun contest, filled with lots of dogs mugging for the camera and cats posing as, well, cats. But as we all know, even before the cutest pet takes the podium and wears the sash, the cutest pet is […]
Assignment: Hiking The Location: Undisclosed Boone County The house that I grew up in had a heavily wooded and unexplored jungle just beyond my backyard where my neighborhood friends and I would spend most of the summer. Wandering through that forest, we would create forts, fish in the lake or forage for anything edible we […]
Assignment: Dog-Friendly Dining The Location: Logboat Brewing Co. I’ve always been a dog person. Throughout the years, I have met just about every breed of canine. I enjoy getting to know each and every one of them, as dogs seem to have completely different personalities. Since I like to get them riled up as I […]
Assignment: First Fridays The Location: North Village Arts District If you haven’t experienced the festivities at First Friday in the North Village Arts District, you’re missing out on a fun evening. I think everyone should make it a point to head over and see how that area comes to life during the twilight hours once a month. […]
Assignment: Opening Day for the Kansas City Royals The Location: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri Nothing signals the start of summer like Major League Baseball. In February, I was concerned that summer wouldn’t happen because of the MLB lockout, but the players and owners were finally able to settle their differences just in time to belatedly start […]
The goddess has left the building. She is the Roman goddess of fertility. Her moods cause the seasons to change. And the common people of Rome identified with her more than any other god. When the 10-foot-4 statue of Ceres, goddess of agriculture, mounted the Missouri State Capitol dome in 1924, she planned to stay […]
At some point in our lives we become primary caregivers for an aging family member. My most recent patient wasn’t a parent or a pet. It was a Pontiac. From the tow truck’s shotgun seat, looking through a shoebox-sized side mirror at my car in chains, I had time to reflect on her journey. In […]
