Deputy Director Sam Henley is a member of the 26th class of Leadership Camden County! Former Director Ron Gentry nominated Sam so she could begin building a network here in Camden County and begin learning about our county through the eyes of the organizations, agencies, and businesses who serve our area!
My how time flies; time to catch up on this series!
For our eighth installment in this series, the LCC took a bus tour of Camden County!
Leadership Camden County Tour – April 13th, 2021
AGENDA
8:00 AM Arrive at the Camdenton Middle School parking lot, back corner closest to Bledsoe’s Auto Repair 88 Laker Drive, Camdenton, MO 65020
8:15 AM Board the bus for Camden County Museum
08:30 AM Arrive at Camden County Museum
09:30 AM Depart for Richland City Hall
10:30 AM Arrive at Richland City Hall- Guest “Stand up speaker” Mayor
10:40 AM Depart City Hall
10:45 AM SURPRISE STOP
10:50 AM Depart for Ozark Fisheries
11:00 AM Arrive at Ozark Fisheries – Tour Guide Margaret
12:00 PM Depart for Angela’s Lake Catering
12:20 PM Lunch
1:20 PM Depart from Angela’s
1:50 PM SURPRISE STOP
2:10 PM Depart for Ballparks National
2:25 PM Arrive at Ballparks National
3:00 PM Depart for Climax School District
3:30 PM Arrive at Climax School District
3:40 PM Depart for Camdenton Middle School
4:15 PM Arrive at Camdenton Middle School/Adjourn
The Camden County Museum is really a hidden treasure! If you enjoy reminders of yesteryear, it is definitely worth a visit! The ladies who run and organize it are knowledgeable of the history of our little slice of Missouri and you can feel their love and respect of that history in the stories they tell, the time they take to explain the different sections of the museum, and the reverence with which they undertake their positions. You can find clothing, furniture, toys, school supplies, and other signs of a tough but beautiful past here in Camden County! You can find their website here! *Photos will be added soon!
Our visit to Richland was informative! We learned about how the city deals with their utilities, how they manage to meet the needs of the community, and the struggles they face with funding. This small town is quite beautiful and they have a great website here! *Photos will be added soon!
While there are many fish hatcheries around the Lake of the Ozarks, Ozark Fisheries in Stoutland was pretty amazing! The sheer number, size, and variety of fish were fantastic to see. More importantly, hearing about the challenges the pandemic has caused the hatchery to face and overcome haven’t been a highlight in all of the media coverage we have been inundated with in the past year. Delivery of live fish through the mail and other shipping types have been delayed or cancelled and the hatchery has had to deal with an outpouring of calls from people who are angry about receiving dead fish. Things are beginning to return to “normal” now that the country is opening back up and shipping seems to have leveled out, so our friends at the hatchery can hopefully breathe a sigh of relief! You can find their website here!
In our whirlwind adventure, our next stop was up on the ridge to look down on Tunnel Dam! This dam was built prior to Bagnell Dam to create a power source for the workers to BUILD Bagnell Dam! Tunnel Dam has an amazing write-up here and it is well worth the trip through the winding backroads of Macks Creek to see it!
After that, we travelled to Ballparks National, which is a new and innovative area with several fields which can be used for youth baseball and softball and adult ladies softball. They have plans to expand and build a regulation baseball field in the future and they were voted one of “Missouri’s Best” this year by Missouri Magazine! You can find their website here!
Our final destinations were Climax Springs and Camdenton Schools! We were glad to be given the chance to see both of these areas and it really hit home how much small town America is struggling right now. The bright spot to that is we can see just how much communities pull together to help each other when times are tough!
Thank you to the Leadership Planning Team for such a great experience which took us all over our county!
See you in Part 9!
Camden County, MO Emergency Management Agency 
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