WEATHER HAMPERS AREA TOUR; STILL, ORGANIZERS LABEL IT A SUCCESS

Organizers said the weekend's blustery weather cut down on the number of people who participated in the third annual Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive.

"It was generally a success, but the numbers were lower than we had hoped for. The weather was really bad," said Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University. The center coordinates the event.

Last year most of the dogwoods and azaleas the drive is designed to showcase had bloomed two weeks before the weekend. This year they were just beginning to come out.

"I'm disappointed we're unable to show people how pretty this area could be in the spring," Nickell said.

The Civil War encampment near Burfordville (see related story) and the frontiersmen and women of the Zenon River Brigade at Elks Park both drew robust crowds, Nickell said, as did the Missouri Conservation Department's Nature Center and regional headquarters in North County Park.

About 1,150 people turned out in Saturday's sunny but windy weather for the Craftsfest at Black Forest Villages, and another 850 ignored Sunday's rains to watch the demonstrations of weaving and basket-making and other disappearing skills.

Owner Greg Macke said the total was about equal to last year's turnout, which was hampered by cold weather.

The crafts seemed to mix well together. At the leathersmithing shop shared by Charley Mungle and Jim Jost, musical instrument-maker Rich Krueger walked in and broke into a train song, "The Wreck of the Old 97."

Krueger, a technician at Procter and Gamble who wears an Amish beard, played an old-time instrument called a bowed psaltery. The psaltery looks like an autoharp but the notes are produced by bowing the strings at different points along the instrument's length. The bow is a fraction of the normal size.

The psaltery is mentioned in the Bible, Krueger said, but he first ran across one five years ago in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. A maker of banjos, mandolins and dulcimers, Krueger said the instrument "lends itself well to old-time and gospel music."

A psaltery can be custom-made and will cost about $200.

Mungle's leather work ranges from the pictorial to key rings. His piece de resistance, not for sale, is a large depiction of The Last Supper that took him six months to complete.

Mungle, who had polio as a child, began learning to work with leather in a seventh-grade shop class in Poplar Bluff. "The doctors said to learn to do something with my hands," he said.

These days, he often can be found at the Black Forest during the week, providing demonstrations for bus tours or sometimes working alone.

"We're trying to keep the trade alive," he said.

Making their first appearance at Black Forest were Bill and Brenda Lix of Scott City. The Lixes make ceramic pieces that appeal to those who collect images of things that are dear to them cute pigs, wizards, carousel horses, Indians, ETs, all kinds of Santa Clauses, cows.

They sent their "After Taxes Man," a sad-looking fellow wearing a barrel, to President Bill Clinton to celebrate his inauguration. His thank-you note is displayed proudly.

Their Quick Lixs Ceramics began two years ago as a dining room-table hobby that mushroomed. Bill works at a dry cleaners and Brenda is employed by Lee-Rowan Co.

They now own more than 1,200 molds, which are stored beneath their mobile home. The business has taken over other areas of their home as well, aside from the kiln in their storage shed.

"The kitchen is the pouring table, the dining room is for painting and the living room is the display area," Brenda said.

Next month, they will move into their own studio at the tourist ranch Rocky Holler USA. There, people will be able to watch them making ceramic pieces from start to finish, a process which averages about 10 hours.

"We'll be setting up like you were walking into a shop at Silver Dollar City," Bill said.