Mar 082018
Roadside souvenir, crafts and novelty shops were a feature of automobile-era Ozark tourism. Much of the merchandise was locally produced. Some were traditional pioneer crafts; some were recent innovations like the concrete drip vessels. Sometimes chenille bedspreads produced in factories in southern Appalachia flapped in the breeze. By the 1950s, inexpensive souvenirware from Japan had arrived on some shelves. Coon Ridge Novelty Shop in Reeds Spring appears to have specialized in Ozark drip pottery and handmade hickory baskets.