Boone Life

Each fire station has its own personality, say the firefighters who work for the Columbia Fire Department.

Church patrons and Columbia residents crowded into St. Paul AME Church on Saturday to have their pictures taken.

Salón Azteca opened two months ago in the village southwest of Columbia.

When Don Jordan looks at a broken washing machine or a twisted ladder, he doesn’t see a piece of junk — he sees potential. His Boone County compound is full of relics he's collected over the years.

When visiting his 16-month-old son, a young parent gets to see, for the first time, his child walk.

Although it has a new name and a new manager, J.R. Barton’s Southern Kitchen and BBQ still relies on good comfort food and a family’s barbecue knowledge to bring in customers.

When it comes to zipping around town, two wheels are better than four if you ask the founding members of the Scooter Sirens, Columbia’s only motor scooter club.

Ranadhir Mitra, an associate professor in the department of pathology and anatomical sciences at MU’s School of Medicine, is a follower of Hinduism.

The festivities begin at 4 p.m. with an instrumental jam session, followed by square dance instruction. After a potluck dinner, kids, teenagers and adults begin to line up for the square dancing.

Ashland residents flock to Hooligans, a 6-month-old bar, speaking about Hooligans as if it has been in operation their entire lives.

The Van Sickles’ birthday party is more than just a community social. It’s an opportunity for friends and neighbors to gather in an informal setting, celebrating to the talents of artists from around the state.

Four students, each double the age of their 28-year-old instructor, Brian Hart, take their seats in a room inside the Unity Center and begin playing a song on tin whistles.

Eight-year-old Cole Scheetz stands with his hands on his hips next to two stick horses lying on the ground at the Hallsville Fairgrounds stables. Cole looks like a real cowboy with his dirt-covered boots, long blue jeans, belt buckle, cowboy hat and light-blue shirt.

It’s nine in the morning at the Parkade Mall in Columbia. Walk inside and go down a flight of stairs, and in Room 124 parents Nancy Robinson, Valerie Bryant, Julie Telken and Meera Sood sit in the waiting room of Kindermusik with Brenda Haynes, the instructor. A window separates the waiting room and the classroom, which has solid purple walls and a hardwood dance floor. Two-year-olds play with a slew of toys.

Known as Cowboy Church, a small group of congregants and two church leaders convene each Tuesday evening in front of a small log cabin at the Lambert residence.

As Killian Winterwolf puts on his gray helmet, Orion Harman and Rob Howell are already hacking each other with their duct tape-covered swords. Underneath a maroon canopy, one of the modern conveniences that continuously stands unnoticed, Chris Harman weaves wool while Mark Abbott unveils the group’s flag. The fighters’ chain and plate armor jingles and clangs to the pace of their movements.

John Mellencamp would be at home in Sturgeon

Just after sunrise, a mud-caked BMW makes its way down the gravel driveway at Sycamore Creek Farm, near Rocheport. The car comes to a stop and two men get out. They start unloading toolboxes, ropes and electrical cords. In the distance, an alpaca screeches a high-pitched warning squeal.

Just after work on a Friday afternoon, Mary Newby walks up to the counter at Hallsville Market and Deli.

It’s more than just a residence. It’s a community fo people age 50 and older.