“Where y’awl from?”
“St. Louis.”
“An’ you’re still alive?”
I spent a five-day family weekend along 76 Highway in scenic (and crowded) Branson, Missouri. ‘Where y’awl from?’ is the near
universal opening of sales clerks, wait staff and such. Each of those folks probably has quips handy for Kansas Citians, Texans, Okies and other tourists, but, that choice response for St. Louisans tells a lot.
Those Taney County folk are different in a variety of ways…
❶ They’re poorer than the average Missourian. The Branson Daily Independent has help wanted ads. The highest advertised wage: Up to $12.00 an hour for ‘experienced’ Front Desk managers. (Part time but ‘post-season opportunities may be available.’) According to the census folks, annual Median Household Income in Taney County is $38,357 – almost $10,000 a year below the state average. [ https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/taneycountymissouri/RHI805210 ] This May (high-employment season in Branson) one in seven Taney Countians was on food stamps. [ http://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1705-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf ]
Around 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, during my evening stroll, I met a local guy. He wore a shirt from one of the shows and carried a bag from the grocery store two very steep miles away. He explained he walked to and from work every day. He’d worked from 9:00 a.m. till 10:00 p.m. (“But they give us an hour for lunch.”) He warned me that one local road quickly flooded after even a moderate rain.
Anyone walking several miles to and from work in August in Missouri a) doesn’t have a car, and, b) doesn’t make much money.
❷ They look to The Old South. Dixie Outfitters on 76 Highway is closing-out their stainless steel and enamel stars and bars mens rings this week. [https://www.facebook.com/dixieoutfittersbranson/ ] At the iconic Dicks’s 5 and 10, downtown, they have a nice collection of both American flags, from desktop to large flagpole size. Even some of the expensive shops at Branson Landing stock merchandise tied to the ‘second war for independence.’
❸ They’re not very welcoming to blacks. Again, per the census, Taney County is 1.5% African American. My guess is that fewer than 1% of Branson tourists are black. While I saw a few instances where people of color were treated as friends – such as at Billy Bob’s Dairyland where “Duke” picked-up a big to-go order – more often you could spot the black people by looking where the store staff were looking.
Look at brochures for the shows: most have no people of color in the cast or audience photos.
Wednesday evening at the deli counter in Price Cutter the staff were friendly, until they waited on the African American dad, mom and kids. No chit-chat, no sample tastes, just a curt ‘what do you want.’ (I started moving towards the counter but the dad looked straight at me and just shook his head from side to side.)
❹ They love Trump. Donald Trump got four times as many votes as Hilary Clinton from Taney County. No Democrat on the ballot pulled even 27%. [ http://enrarchives.sos.mo.gov/enrnet/CountyResults.aspx ] Trump merchandise is easy to find, Trump/Pence bumper stickers hold decade old Korean cars together, and, well, they really believe Trump shares their values.
Remember, in Branson a friend from ‘another religion’ is a Methodist. Life is always better in small, rural towns than in big evil cities. Nostalgia for the music of the 1950’s and 1960’s is great (but ignore segregation and that war thing – except when veterans get a special shout-out).
That ‘Concealed Carry Welcome’ sign was not at a gun store: it hangs over the entrance to the Clay Cooper Theatre where Clay Cooper’s Country Express family oriented variety show closes with the Pledge Of Allegiance and a patriotic finale. I did not see a single ‘weapons prohibited’ sign during five days of moving about Branson.
St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and other urbanized places hold the vast majority of Missourians: residents of Taney County and most of those visiting Branson consider those Ozark hills to be the real Missouri. They live the ideal – even if that requires poverty and bigot.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member