Boster Castle prepping for two fall festivals

MoFlow 2016 Festival of the Arts this weekend

Jugglers show off their skills at last year's renaissance festival at Boster Castle in Callaway County. The castle property is owned by Adam Boster, below.
Jugglers show off their skills at last year's renaissance festival at Boster Castle in Callaway County. The castle property is owned by Adam Boster, below.

KINGDOM CITY - Down a gravel road in northwestern Callaway County, in a neighborhood of pretty farms and ordinary homes, the walls of a medieval castle are beginning to rise from soil.
"We're trying to create adventure for people," owner Adam Boster said.
A worker in a Bobcat scraped the earth Monday, creating a moat around a new "village." The grass is freshly cut. There is an air of expectation. This weekend, the 40-acre plot will be filled with modern vehicles bringing throngs of thrill seekers to MoFlow 2016 Festival of the Arts.
"MoFlow is in its second year," said Boster, owner/creator of the property. "There's all types of physical art - dance, aerial, acrobatics, fire breathing, spinning."
The MoFlow arts retreat will be Friday and Saturday with tickets at moflowarts.com or all-day passes available at the gate for $49. Classes and retreat will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the Steampunk Flying Circus at 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday evenings. The circus tickets are $10 each at the gate.
In a couple of months, the 11th Central Missouri Renaissance Festival will also be at Boster Castle, with special events, turkey legs, and merchants peddling their wares. This is a dress-up event with live music performed by the bands Musical Blades, Clearly Guilty, Pictus and 4 Pints Gone performing. The festival will be Oct. 22 and 23.
Becky Asher, owner of Village Books in Columbia, is on the board of the renaissance festival and is the current organizer.
"We want you to have a fun time and learn something, too," she said.
She said the festival was operated for five years from the Boone County Fairgrounds and then moved to Boster Castle in 2011.
"There's a certain intimacy and it's very family friendly," Asher added.
She said the quality of the bands engaged is spectacular.
"Musical Blades are from the Kansas City area and very well known on the renn fair circuit," she said. "Clearly Guilty is also from Kansas City, and they are the nerd band to end all nerd bands. They have a delightful sense of humor."
Renaissance festivals also incorporate a fantasy aspect, according to Asher. She expects Star Trek characters.
"And you end up with a lot of pirates," she added.
Last year, the festival drew about 2,500 people.
"This year, we're hoping for 3,500 or 4,000," Asher said. "Come and watch the spectacle."
Boster, 46, lives in Columbia with his wife, Angela and their family. He bought the castle property about six years ago.
"It was a completely empty field," he said. "We've already had movies made out here, and we're going to have more. The castle will continue to grow."
Not everyone gets to develop their own castle and medieval village, but that's the goal for Boster Castle.
"This is part of it - the dream," he said. "It takes a lot of sacrifice. It's crazy. There's a lot of adventure that happens out here, and people come out to experience something they can't find anywhere else."
Boster's "day job" ties into what he's trying to achieve with his fairgrounds.
"I own a photography company and I'm a filmmaker," he said. "I have a feature film coming out in America in 2017 called 'Money Fight.'"
This $5 million film, directed in part by Boster, includes cast members Maria Conchita Alonso and Ving Rhames with an appearance by George Takai.
Boster Castle is at 4274 County Road 220 in Kingdom City.