As summer transitioned into fall, I traveled twice to Fair Grove to meet with people like Mary Terry. She’s president of the Fair Grove Historical & Preservation Society. Along with hundreds of volunteers, the society organizes the annual Fair Grove Heritage Reunion festival.
The next festival is set for Saturday, September 28 and Sunday, September 29, beginning at 8 a.m. each day. On Saturday, the Heritage Reunion parade takes place at 10 a.m. in downtown Fair Grove.
Terry said, "I’ve been a Fair Grove resident... almost my entire life. A member [of the historical society] here almost since the beginning."
“When was the beginning?” I asked Terry.
“1984 is when the mill was purchased," she replied. More on the mill in a moment.
The festival is a phenomenon, attracting tens of thousands.
Steve Short served as Fair Grove mayor from 2020 to 2024.
He said that each year, the Lions Club barbecues hundreds of chicken dinners off a 25-foot grill pit, set up specially for the occasion. Hundreds of vendors selling real hand-made crafts surround the mill and the nearby town square.
Throngs of people line up for the parade.
"The folks park up to a quarter a mile away to come, and the streets are full," former Mayor Short told Ozarks Public Radio. "The lots are full. It's just, it's just a wonderful day, you know. And some folks call it the Heritage Reunion, because that's kind of their class reunion.”
The Heritage Reunion centers on the old Wommack Mill, the one Mary Terry mentioned. It’s also known as Boegel and Hine Flour Mill — and simply as the Old Fair Grove Mill. It sits in a parklike setting of several acres, including a museum and a gazebo perched above a creek bed.
I told Terry that I'd read a historic register application for Wommack Mill, which said this was a social landmark for the community from the 1880s, when it was built, up through the 1960s, when it closed down as a working mill.
Terry said Wommack Mill has become a social center for Fair Grove once again, in contrast to what it was like when she was younger.
"It is, it is," she said. "Not for me, like when I was a teenager, you know, I just thought it was an old barn because at that time, it had deteriorated so much. And you know, and, you know, people, neighbors had parked cars and such, you know, because it sees it ceased working in 1969. So, you know, I didn't know what it was.”
The mill’s been restored since the late 1970s, and the Historical Society bought it in 1984.
Now, once again — during September's Heritage Reunion, the July Ice Cream Social and the Mill Christmas Lighting — they actually grind grain at the mill, as a demonstration for kids. It recalls the work of the Wommack family, who owned the mill prior to 1969.
Inside the mill itself, the space is filled with original farming and milling tools gathered from old homesteads in the area. Near an original French burr millstone, I found a row of denim overalls hanging on the wall.
“Well, there’s several pairs," Terry told me. "So those men, and of course, those people in that picture, I knew them all. Yeah. You know, I can see Jack Lucas right there. There's Jack Lucas. That's exactly what he looks like. And I can see him, he works so hard. There's Carl — flannel shirt, you know, and he was our past president. And then of course, Clifford, and John Doe."
"So it's tradition to hang up the overalls?” I asked.
“It has been," Terry replied, "but not too many of them are here. But you know, again, you know, when you see those people and I feel like they're kind of on my shoulders going, 'you know, Mary, you know, keep it up,' you know, and I want to, you know, and I don't want to disappoint them, because you have no idea how much hard work they put into this. To get this going. You know, and yeah, and the fun. I mean, good grief. Clifford and John Doe Tracy. Oh, they were a mess.”
"They were a mess," I replied. "They were pretty funny guys. I see nine overalls.”
Terry and her crew call it the “overhalls of fame,” an intentional pun to honor the volunteer spirit. They largely credit two founders for Fair Grove’s prodigious effort at historic preservation.
“Jerry Thomas is the founder for this," Terry said. "He has lived his whole life here — he did, unfortunately he’s passed away. And Dan Manning, and those two men just saw a vision.”
Prompted by Terry — who I first met while covering the United Way Day of Caring effort back in June, as volunteers did construction work on the Wommack Mill grounds — I came back to Fair Grove a few weeks before the Heritage Reunion to meet 80-year-old Dan Manning and his wife, Betty.
Dan introduced himself, saying he "was there at the first gavel pounding of the Historical Society in 1977, in May... 3rd, I think, and I still consider myself an integral part of the Historical Society, because Betty and I, at each celebration, we do tours and explanation of what went on in Fair Grove, over the last 50 years that we've been associated.”
The Mannings lived in Fair Grove from 1974 through 2021, moving to Springfield mainly so they could be closer to healthcare appointments. For them, the Heritage Reunion and the Wommack Mill define the community and help put Fair Grove on the map.
Betty Manning said, "a lot of people are familiar with Fair Grove because of all the noise about the reunion. You know, we advertise, and then people talk about, 'I went to Fair Grove to the parade' or to the reunion.”
The Mannings and former Mayor Short said the Heritage Reunion has contributed to progress in Fair Grove, including increased business activity during the festival, as well as attracting new residents.
Dan Manning said, "I think because of the reunion, the city of Fair Grove has grown. I think people came to the reunion, had a good time, and they thought, ‘well, this might be a good place to live.’”
Learn more about Wommack Mill and the Fair Grove Heritage Reunion by visiting fg-historical.org.