Saturday’s long-planned festival at Red Oak II complex near Carthage, Missouri, not only will pay tribute to its recently deceased creator, Lowell Davis, and also to those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
Davis’ widow, Rose, told the Joplin Globe a tribute or memorial didn’t happen immediately after his death at age 83 on Nov. 2 because it was during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The newspaper reported:
At 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, a ceremony will take place inside the Red Oak II cemetery at Lowell Davis’ gravesite, where there will be prayers and songs, and well-wishers will get the opportunity to lay down flowers or notes in tribute.
“It will be very emotional,” Rose Davis said. The ceremony “will be my way of grieving. And I know a lot of people want to do something and to be a part of the tribute.”
There will also be an observance that morning for those who died Sept. 11, 2001, she said.
The festival itself will run to 5 p.m. In addition to more than 15 fine arts and craft booths, Davis said, the festival will offer a special Lowell Davis art booth, with some of his artwork given away in drawings. […]
Events include hayrides that will take guests around Red Oak II, lessons on how to crochet, a cornhole contest and a music jam, she said. There will also be food trucks.
Rose Davis also reiterated that Red Oak II remains open to visitors from sunrise to sundown daily, despite its creator’s death, “to continue his legacy.”
Red Oak II northeast of Carthage consists of a Phillips 66 service station, schoolhouse, feedstore, diner, town hall, jail, blacksmith shop and general store — several of which were picked up and hauled from Davis’ nearby hometown — plus a smattering of Davis’ whimsical sculptures. The original Red Oak lies about 20 miles east of his re-creation.
Red Oak II sits about a mile north of Route 66. It’s a popular side trip for many Route 66 travelers, mostly because of its unique nostalgia angle.
(Image of the Phillips 66 station at Red Oak II near Carthage, Missouri, by J.G. Park via Flickr)