The club, year by year

1950s

1. 1956
   September & OctoberMeetings were being held, but a newsletter was not yet published, so we have little information.

1960s

1. 1961
   SeptemberThe Labor Day clean-up on the Current River was highlighted by the children honoring Puck Acuff at the Saturday-evening campfire for all she had done for them. The fire ring was surrounded by luminaries; the children gave Puck an improvised orchid corsage and dedicated a song to her.
2. 1961
   OctoberThe Waterways Committee reported on Lee Creek in Arkansas, near Winslow. A trip was scheduled for every weekend in October.
3. 1966
   SeptemberThe 7th annual Can Clean-Up on the Current River pulled 4.5 tons of trash from the river between Cedar Grove and Round Spring. Channel 5, the Kansas City Star, and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported on the effort.
4. 1966
   OctoberThe annual fall color trip on the Buffalo included exploring an old lead and zinc mine near the river and a visit to a ghost town.

1970s

1. 1971
   SeptemberThe Missouri Sesquicentennial trip on the Missouri River included a tour of Boone Cave. The camping and caving were fun, but nobody was eager to put on the river during 48 hours of steady rain.
2. 1971
   OctoberHearings were being held on the Buffalo River becoming a National Scenic Riverway. Members were circulating petitions for the Missouri soft-drink tax.
3. 1976
   SeptemberWinners of the Labor Day clean-up contest were George and Kevin Chase, Ivan Hendrickson, the Silvers family, and Charlie Jack.
4. 1976
   OctoberThe Close-to-Home group ran 12 river trips for a total of 865 miles during the year.

1980s

1. 1981
   SeptemberGeorge Chase received his 3,000-mile bar and Charlie Hayes his 8,000-mile bar.
2. 1981
   OctoberThe bluegrass band Crystal Road, Ltd. played at our meeting.
3. 1986
   SeptemberOWWC took part in the Outdoor Fest at Shawnee Mission Park.
4. 1986
   OctoberThe meeting was held in the newly remodeled Camp Lake of the Woods dining hall, where we saw A Man and His River, the story of Thomas Hart Benton and his love affair with the Buffalo River.

1990s

1. 1991
   SeptemberThe video Autumn in the Ozarks was shown at the September meeting.
2. 1991
   OctoberA member came all the way from Pennsylvania to coordinate a day of the Fall Canoefest on the Current River.
3. 1996
   SeptemberThe biggest bash in the club’s first 40 years was held on September 14, 1996. Nancy Jack introduced all 131 people in attendance by name, including three founding members and eighteen past presidents. Honorary Life memberships were awarded to Charlie Hayes and George and Barbara Chase, and many slides and stories were shared.
4. 1996
   OctoberA trip on the Illinois River in Oklahoma, and three members hiked the Mark Twain National Forest’s Cedar Creek Trail.

2000s

1. 2001
   SeptemberThe annual Dutch oven cook-off, coordinated by Martha Hall, was held before the meeting.
2. 2001
   OctoberAt our meeting at Hope Center, Kansas City Parks and Recreation discussed plans for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial in our part of the state.
3. 2006
   SeptemberOWWC’s 50th anniversary was a huge success, with founder Oz Hawksley and Margaret Hedges as the headliners. Past presidents were honored, memories were shared in words and pictures, and there was plenty of food.
4. 2006
   OctoberOWWC met the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles as it came through Kansas City, retracing the voyage of Lewis and Clark 200 years earlier.

2010s

1. 2011
   SeptemberAs Missouri Stream Team #41, the club held its 52nd annual river clean-up, on the Big Piney. Fifty members took part, and the traveling trophy went to a two-person crew.
2. 2011
   OctoberFive members took the Fall State Park Tour: Graham Cave, Cuivre River, Mark Twain’s boyhood home, and Union Covered Bridge State Historic Site.
3. 2016
   SeptemberThe Labor Day clean-up on the Big Piney drew 29 people, with a trophy for the most trash collected. It doubled as a 60th-anniversary celebration: a log drilled with 60 holes held candles that were lit around the campfire. Back home, five members did the annual Dutch oven cooking before the September meeting, adding to a potluck for 23, and four floaters ran the Eleven Point.
4. 2016
   OctoberThe October meeting celebrated the club’s 60th anniversary with photo albums, founder memorabilia, slides of old events, a log drilled with holes for 60 candles, and a cake with a river scene. The six-day Fall Fest on the Buffalo and Current drew 21 floaters.

2020s

1. 2021
   SeptemberThe Labor Day clean-up on the Niangua was a success between bouts of rain, with 24 floaters. The traveling trophy went to the finder of the largest object, and a family crew was recognized for collecting the most trash. Hundreds of rafts on the river hampered Sunday’s clean-up.
2. 2021
   OctoberThe Fall Canoefest on Tan Vat and the Current ran between rains, hail, and delays: a good trip, with a few dumps. The quarterly Stream Team water-quality testing on the Blue River went ahead as usual.

Compiled from the “OWWC Past” column in the club newsletter: September 2026, October 2026.