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The Scene

Stephens Fashion Show 2026

Interwoven: Stephens College’s 82nd Annual Fashion Show Highlights Emerging Designers

For more than eight decades, Stephens College has used the runway as a platform for emerging designers. On April 25, that tradition continued with the 82nd annual The...

Quilt

Stitching Stories: The Quilting Community

In a quiet studio, a longarm quilting machine hums as Carol Sexton guides layers of fabric beneath the needle. Thread moves across the surface in looping lines and...

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CPS and City Partnership Expands Opportunities for Student Artists

Columbia Public Schools’ Partners in Education (PIE) program is continuing to open doors for student artists — this time through a growing collaboration with the city’s Office of...

Artist Stephen Fielbach

Q&A With Artist Stephen Feilbach

Why wait for inspiration to strike when it’s already right in front of you, under you, beside you, or above you? What inspiration is that, you ask? Insects....

Michael Cochran inside his antique store, Second Nature

Before the Arts District 

Cities try to manufacture arts districts all the time. Columbia got lucky — one grew here on its own. Long before anyone branded it the North Village Arts...

Exterior view of 1023 E. Walnut St. The street-facing upper level was constructed during the 1939 expansion of the complex. The building was originally set behind a 19th-century house that faced Walnut Street, with the loading dock angled to allow access from behind the house. Credit: Tahlia Heaton, December 2025

A World Beneath Walnut Street

Long before the basements beneath Walnut Street picked up the nickname “the Catacombs,” the block was running on groceries. The neighborhood grew up around the old Wabash depot,...

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Limited-Edition Ornaments Tell COMO’s History  

Central Bank of Boone County has commissioned holiday ornaments commemorating famous Columbia landmarks every year since 1988, with the first ornament depicting Jesse Hall at the University of...

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Collaboration Tames Chaos  

As Beatrice Stewart watched residents at the Flourish shelter work on art projects at the shared kitchen table late last year, it became clear that the young artists...

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Downtown Find: Studio San

Studio San, featured as a “Closer Look” in the January 2025 issue of COMO Business Times, has set roots — at least for now — in the old...

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Trent’s Picks: The Best of COMO’s Local Art Scene

Columbia’s Trent Rash is our main guide for finding your art and culture fix in the community. Trent has been the executive director of The Missouri Symphony (MOSY)...