Steelville Tourism’s annual Taste of the Ozarks event has been canceled for 2026, but will return next year.

Mary Becker, a member of Steelville Tourism, a group that organizes Taste of the Ozarks and other annual events, said that this year’s Taste of the Ozarks event was scheduled too closely to the city’s annual Harvest Festival. Taste of the Ozarks was scheduled for Sept. 19 this year, six days after the Harvest Festival will conclude.

Becker said she thinks that having both events so closely together was forcing vendors to choose which event to attend, leaving both events competing for the same vendors. In order to support the success of the Steelville Harvest Festival, Taste of the Ozarks canceled.

“Our tourism events are meant to put outside vendors on Main Street to create excitement for people to come to Main Street to shop and see what Steelville is all about,” Becker said. “We had no vendors signing up, so we decided to be good stewards of our town, abandon it for this year, and just pour all of our efforts into the Harvest Festival.”

According to Becker, vendors and artists expressing interest in Taste of the Ozarks are now being directed to the Steelville Chamber of Commerce so they can sign up for the Harvest Festival. Steelville Tourism has also thrown its efforts behind promoting the Harvest Festival.

Becker said “We have a couple thousand followers on Steelville Tourism, so all of us have been posting that we were combining our event with Harvest Festival this year to make it the best Harvest Festival we can, and so we’re all advertising more for Harvest Festival from all of our own Facebook pages.”

With Taste of the Ozarks on pause until next year, Becker said that Steelville Tourism has been redoubling efforts for their next event of the year: Witches Night Out.

“That event is getting a huge response,” said Becker.

The Halloween-themed street event is Oct. 23, 2026, on Main Street. It will feature food, craft and cosmetics vendors. According to Becker, visitors can find snacks, crocheted items, jewelry, soaps, lotions, potions and more. Being a Halloweentime event, it is also costume-friendly.

“We already have 25 vendors signed up, so it’ll be a full complement of people and artisans participating,” said Becker. “We put the booths on the sidewalks and visitors will be able to stroll along the sidewalks and visit all the vendors. We have a really nice response, so we’re excited to have a really good event.”

Witches Night Out is one of Steelville Tourism’s newer events, and growing in popularity, according to Becker.

“It’s also a free event. We  don’t charge a vendor fee for anyone to come, so that is allowing us to have many more vendors in the street,” Becker said.

Becker said that Steelville Tourism encourages fans of Taste of the Ozarks to attend this year’s Harvest Festival, but to be ready for their other yearly events.

“Everyone should participate in the Harvest Festival this year,” said Becker. “We look forward to seeing everyone next year for Taste of the Ozarks, but put Witch’s Night Out on their calendar, because that’s going to be a big event.”