Missouri, United States — Events
True/False Documentary Film Festival
Columbia’s True/False Documentary Film Festival was started by David Wilson and Paul Sturtz in 2004. Despite its humble beginnings (the first festival had about 4,000 attendees), it has grown into one of the most respected non-fiction film festivals in the United States. In 2006, it won the Riverfront Times’ Best Film Festival award, and in 2010, there were over 25,000 cinema-lovers in attendance. The founders of the festival say that they “love the tradition of film-makers as detectives”, and this spirit of truth-finding permeates all the films screened at the festival.
Santa-Cali-Gon Days Festival
The Santa-Cali-Gon Days Festival, first held in Independence in 1940, is an annual celebration of the city’s heritage as the starting-point for three major frontier routes: the Santa Fe, California and Oregon Trails (thus explaining the festival’s rather awkward name). Since then, the festival has evolved to become one of the nation’s premier frontier festivals, drawing 225,000 visitors each year.
Big Muddy Blues Festival
The Labor Day Weekend jams to some of the best blues in the country in blues-rich city St Louis. This free event takes place at Laclede’s Landing along the banks of the Mississippi river and showcases some of the top performers in contemporary blues. The event is sponsored by Budweiser.
