When the hipbillies came to Eureka

One rainy weekend in 1973, something exceptional occurred in Eureka Springs – even by its own standards.

Around 150,000 hippies and hippie-adjacent folk gathered in the woods for the Ozark Mountain Folkfair, which banker John Cross would later dismiss as a “marijuana rodeo and a cow pasture brothel.”

Big Mama Thornton, Earl Scruggs, John Lee Hooker, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were among the many acts. The event catalyzed a new beginning for the town as hippies – including the back-to-the-land type sometimes called “hipbillies” – moved in and became part of its fabric.

I’ll tell a little more about that story in my upcoming book, Welcome to Eureka Springs: The I-Sh*t-You-Not History of America’s Quirkiest Town.

But from 10am to 2pm this Friday and Saturday (June 3-4, 2023), you can step back in time and see it yourself. The Main Stage Creative Community Center on Main Street hosts an exhibit of more than a hundred black-and-white photographs of the event taken by co-producer Albert Skiles.

You can see enlargements that capture a bygone moment along with a slideshow set to music by bands who played the festival.

Best of all, it’s free. Like free love, man.