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.
Through her art, Lou Stine has brought color and joy to the Shell Knob area for the past five years. Stine moved to Shell Knob from southeast Kansas in 2019. She comes from a background in Education of more than 30 years, teaching elementary students before transitioning to an elementary counselor.
Turtle Crossing Gallery is a marvel worth exploring — as much a museum, as it is an art gallery, visitors say. Located in a shady alcove just a short, scenic drive on YY Highway past the Central Crossing Senior Center in Shell Knob, the attraction of the gallery can be credited, in part, to the artists themselves: Stone and Karol Akin, who met 17 years ago in Eureka Springs while attending a ballroom dance.
Turning 60 comes with a perk: access to the many activities offered by Central Crossing Senior Center. In the lakeside community where seasonal tourism and retirees drive the economy, a resource center for seniors seemed logical to five Shell Knob residents in the 1990s.
After European immigrants settled into the new world, which later became the United States, they cast their eyes upon the land where the indigenous natives hunted and gathered — they saw that it was fair.
Between 1837 and 1861, depending on its usage, a trail running from the northeast to the southwest corners of Barry County was known, consecutively, as The Cherokee Trail of Tears, The Butterfield Overland Mail Route and The Wire Road.
A few years ago, Trisha and Brett Raipen were working jobs in Shell Knob and Monett, pining to follow their passions and seeing a need. Now completing its third season, the couple have taken on event planning and hosting, as well as catering, full-time at the reader-voted Best Event Venue in the Cassville area — the Barn at Bear Ridge.
When Trina Colwell talks about His House Foundation — the non-profit, residential, life-transformation program she played a part in establishing in Shell Knob — her face lights up, her voice becomes passionate and her tongue takes on a will of its own. When Colwell, the broker/owner of ReMAX Lakeside Realty, moved to the Shell Knob area in 2009, she brought with her donated funds earmarked for use in the start-up of a new non-profit organization in the lakeside community where she would be making her home.
Cindy Lynn and James Huggins, of Washburn, are making their Myotonic goat herd – bred, born and raised on their farm, Jamcin Ranch – easily recognizable and prized among breeders.
The consensus among local lenders is that the interest rate on ag loans is up from what they were six months ago — no surprise to those who hope to invest in real estate for agricultural purposes.