Cassville man plays key role in area events, food truck
By Kyle Troutman ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
Through family, work or hobbies, people have ways of finding their passions.
For Caden Swearingen, that passion is finding ways to bring a community together.
A medical assistant at Mercy Clinic in Shell Knob by day and owner of CS Photography, another of his passions, Swearingen has been recognized by Cassville Democrat readers for far more.
Swearingen has played key roles in three Best of Cassville recognitions this year: Cassville Community Christmas for Family Activity, The Depot Exeter Auto Show for Community Event and Cassville Lemonade Co. for Best Food Truck.
“It feels good [to be recognized], like you know you can make a difference in a small town and bring people together,” Swearingen said. “That’s important, because every community needs outreach. It’s important to me to be there for people and to help them grow and become more community oriented.”
Cassville Community Christmas, a non-profit, held its inaugural event in 2023, and this year’s is just around the corner.
“On Dec. 6 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Family Life Center, we will have live music from locals, food trucks, kids games, photos with Santa, hot chocolate, cookies, face painting, popcorn and goody bags for kids willed with books, which is sponsored by the Community Care Coalition,” Swearingen said.
Theresa Phillips, Coalition president, is a frequent partner of Swearingen’s. Community Care Coalition, which puts on the Touch-A-Truck event at the Cassville Branch Library, was recognized as this year’s Best Non-Profit Organization.
“[Last year], I felt [Cassville Community Christmas] went good,” Swearingen said. “We definitely saw some things that needed to improve and learned from our mistakes. We looked at the flaws and came up with solutions for them this year.
“I just like to see the people and the community get together. We had about 475 last year, and we’re hoping for the same or more this year.”
Swearingen said the inspiration for the event came from something he saw missing.
“We wanted to have an event to bring the community together for Christmas at a free event, and to help others,” he said. “There’s not very many family events around here, so we wanted to do it for the community to bring everyone together for the Christmas season for fellowship and fun for the kids. We also sponsor a nursing home angel tree separately.”
Funding for the Christmas event was out of pocket in 2023, which spawned the idea of the Lemonade Co.
“Any Cassville Christmas donations help the non-profit, and most of that comes from the Cassville Lemonade Co,” Swearingen said. “Last year, we paid for Cassville Community Christmas out of pocket, so we wanted to try to make a little money over the summer to offset that. We set up at different events, and we gave a percentage of our sales back to many of those event causes.”
What led to the new venture taking Best Food Truck so quickly?
“Honestly, it’s good lemonade — and it’s unique,” Swearingen said.
An older event, the Depot Exeter Car Show celebrated its sixth installment this year, and Swearingen hopes the seventh is even bigger.
“I work with Kyle and Kenneth Phillips of Phillips Phabworks for the car show,” Swearingen said. “We just wanted to do a car show in Exeter. I was taking photos with the business and wanted to help promote and sponsor it. We also wanted to bring something to Exeter, because there’s not a lot of community events there.”
This year’s show featured 120 entries along North and South Front Streets, then east on Cass Avenue.
“It’s grown, and we also learn every year how to make it better and run more smoothly,” Swearingen said. “My favorite part is seeing all the cars and the community coming together, especially the car enthusiasts with extra interest. We want to get more cars participating and build a bigger following.”
Progressing with each event, Swearingen hopes to continue bringing locals together, and Cassville Lemonade Co. may be the catalyst.
“We will be open March through December in 2025, with bing changes coming, too,” he said.
