The Salem News

05/27/2026

UPDATE: All tickets have been claimed. Have a great time at the rodeo!

Who wants to go to the Licking Chamber of Commerce Rodeo this weekend? Call The Salem News at 573-729-4126 or 573-729-2040 to claim FREE tickets today. We have 4 tickets available.

05/20/2026

FREE concert tickets to see Phill Cross & Poet Voices this Saturday, May 23 at Meramec Music Theatre. The concert starts at 3 p.m. Please call 573-729-4126 or 573-729-2040 to claim the tickets. Two groups of 4 and one group of 2 are available.

05/19/2026

ONCRC hosting exhibit about Civilian Conservation Corps

The Ozark Natural & Cultural Resource Center is hosting a new exhibit through at least the end of June documenting the positive impact and honoring the continuing legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps in south-central Missouri. During the Great Depression, the New Deal program put 18- to 25-year-olds to work replanting forests, preventing soil erosion and building recreational areas. In fact, several of the public lands still welcoming visitors in this area were originally built or significantly improved by CCC workers.

READ MORE AT: https://youtu.be/3hdgPYG7L_I

05/13/2026

Maramec Spring Park welcomes public to celebrate ironwork’s bicentennial

Two-hundred years ago this summer, a rugged group of American settlers arrived to the Ozarks and built the foundation on which today’s mid-Missouri rose. Maramec Spring Park this year is celebrating the bicentennial since Thomas James and Samuel Massey established a pioneering ironworks next to one of Missouri’s largest springs. During its years in operation, the Maramec Iron Works was a landmark providing the iron needed for westward expansion and later also helped the Union win the Civil War. It remains significant to the state today as one of the Ozarks’ most enduring destinations.

READ MORE AT:

Two-hundred years ago this summer, a rugged group of American settlers arrived to the Ozarks and built the foundation on which today’s mid-Missouri rose. Maramec Spring Park this year is

05/11/2026

Missouri’s mule jumping season kicks off in Jadwin

The Ozark Riverways Foundation’s annual Rendezvous at the Ridge brought hundreds of people to the Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort on Saturday, with the biggest crowd of the day viewing the mule jumping event. Spectators formed rows of lawn chairs and sat on hay bales while the mules took turns showing their skill and guile making it over a pole. Among those bringing trained mules was Jerry Nelson of the North American Jumping Mules Association. Before the competition started, Nelson was happy to share a little bit about the uniquely American craft.

READ MORE AT: https://www.thesalemnewsonline.com/news/article_c16f6328-bb63-4261-9b8b-e2d5f7dc4224.html

05/11/2026

Summer floating opens with Rendezvous at the Ridge

The local 2026 summer tourism season opened on Saturday with the Ozark Riverways Foundation hosting its annual Rendezvous at the Ridge festival. The event has grown over the past few years from a local draw to attracting regional interest as a showcase of rural Missouri’s best. As the Ozark Riverways Foundation’s largest fundraising event, the gathering also provides a big boost in supporting its mission to preserve some of the state’s most unique cultural heritage and natural landscapes.

READ MORE AT: https://www.thesalemnewsonline.com/news/article_2aee2e01-c019-4f3d-ba59-9f86667478e9.html

05/06/2026

Ozarks legend Rodney Dillard to headline Folky Fish Festival

This year’s third annual Folky Fish Festival on May 29-30 will see a bluegrass legend return to the stage at Maramec Spring Park. Rodney Dillard will be performing hits familiar to fans of the Andy Griffith Show as well as the songs which helped inspire bands as diverse as Led Zeppelin, The Eagles and Elton John.

READ MORE AT:

This year’s third annual Folky Fish Festival on May 29-30 will see a bluegrass legend return to the stage at Maramec Spring Park. Rodney Dillard will be performing hits familiar

04/27/2026

Eleven years after 81-year-old Rosalee Byrd was found fatally injured inside her Salem apartment, investigators say new leads, evolving forensic tools, and renewed public outreach have brought the case closer to resolution.

Officials with the Salem Police Department say they now have what they describe as a “viable path” toward an arrest in the 2015 homicide — but emphasize that the case still hinges in part on information from the public.

Eleven years after 81-year-old Rosalee Byrd was found fatally injured inside her Salem apartment, investigators say new leads, evolving forensic tools, and renewed public outreach have brought the case closer

04/27/2026

Small-town life and deadly secrets fill the pages Titus Benton’s debut novel “65560.” A native of Salem, Benton set the story in the Dent County town and titled the book for the area’s zip code. Although Benton says the book’s plot is fiction, he chose the real-world setting to grant the story’s themes a dose of authenticity.

“I talked to some people that are a little bit more in the business, and a lot of them encouraged me not to use Salem, but that was a very intentional choice for me,” Benton says. “The word Salem means something, and I wanted to contrast the characters and obviously the things that happen in the book with these ideas of peace and tranquility being the backdrop. You see this thin layer of peace as you drive through, but we don't really know what's going on.”

Small-town life and deadly secrets fill the pages Titus Benton’s debut novel “65560.” A native of Salem, Benton set the story in the Dent County town and titled the book

04/15/2026

The City of Salem Electric Department will conduct maintenance work on Friday, April 17, 2026, resulting in a planned power outage.

The outage is scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and is necessary to allow crews to safely replace an electrical pole at the corner of Main Street and Eighth Street. The pole cannot remain energized during the work.

The outage is expected to last approximately two hours.

Areas affected, shown in red on an attached map, include portions of North Main Street, East 10th Street, East 11th Street, and nearby connecting streets.

The City of Salem Electric Department will conduct maintenance work on Friday, April 17, 2026, resulting in a planned power outage.