The Zipper

The Zipper The Zipper brings people together to connect through art and entertainment.

The Zipper is based in Columbia, MO and was founded in 2022 by three local women who share a passion for creative expression, live music, and human connection. The Zipper festival was designed to both celebrate our community and create a space for people to connect through art, music, food and drinks, and innovation. The Zipper brings together creators, makers, artisans, and performers with people

across mid-Missouri to experience unique art installations, explore the talents of local artists and crafters, enjoy local food and cocktails, and meet and mingle with neighbors.

ENTERTAINMENT: Find Fiona - is playing the Zipper Fest on September 12th. Don't miss them!
09/04/2026

ENTERTAINMENT: Find Fiona - is playing the Zipper Fest on September 12th. Don't miss them!

The 4th annual Zipper Fest is just a week away. Get out and get into the arts with 70 art and craft vendors, 10 live per...
09/03/2026

The 4th annual Zipper Fest is just a week away. Get out and get into the arts with 70 art and craft vendors, 10 live performances, local food vendors, and interactive art installations. The Zipper Festival is taking place in the Arcade District in Columbia, MO from 1 to 7pm on Saturday, September 12th. Missed us last year? Here's some pictures from our 2025 festival (photo credit ) with , , , , .

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: BookDrive - Nick is the founder of BookDrive, a mobile pop-up bookstore built from his love of reading...
09/03/2026

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: BookDrive - Nick is the founder of BookDrive, a mobile pop-up bookstore built from his love of reading, books, and the art that surrounds them. To Nick, there are so many forms of art, and books are one of them, taking creativity, emotion, and imagination to create. Through BookDrive, he curates books he thinks will resonate with people and share his love of reading with others as he journeys toward building a bookmobile of his own. Books move people, and he wants to keep finding ways to move books. Get lost in at the Zipper Fest on September 12th!

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: R31 Restore - R31 was designed to provide the community with handmade skincare products. Their goal is...
09/03/2026

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: R31 Restore - R31 was designed to provide the community with handmade skincare products. Their goal is to help your be restored from the outside in. Stop by R31 Restore at the Zipper Fest on September 12th from 1-7pm.

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: AudMae Crochet - Meet Pearl, owner and creator behind AudMae Crochet. Pearl is a 12 year old self-taug...
09/02/2026

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: AudMae Crochet - Meet Pearl, owner and creator behind AudMae Crochet. Pearl is a 12 year old self-taught crochet artist specializing in amigurumi and wearable crochet accessories. She started to learn by watching videos and then taught herself how to read patterns. She has also modified patterns to get a specific look. She has even created her own patterns! Pearl has been crocheting for approximately one year and she looks forward to growing and improving my skills. Don't miss AudMae Crochet at the Zipper Fest on September 12th.

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Colleen Francis Smith - Colleen Francis Smith is an artist working in oil paint who draws from myth, o...
09/02/2026

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Colleen Francis Smith - Colleen Francis Smith is an artist working in oil paint who draws from myth, oral tradition and personal narrative to craft paintings of richly hued, psychological environments that question deeply embedded narratives of femininity. Smith’s paintings meditate on contemporary narratives surrounding womanhood that are shaped by cultural and political expectations, illuminating the deep incision these narratives have made on the collective body of the female psyche. Here, the environment itself becomes a psychic extension of the central figure, reflecting resistance to patriarchal power structures and proclaiming the importance of disobedience and stubborn growth. In these tableaus, the nature character exists as something both strange and familiar, encapsulating the figure as she moves deeper into it. Through engagement with mythic figures such as nymphs and sibyls, questions arise of how feminine power, autonomy, and identity are negotiated in both visible and invisible ways. Often, the figure is present and rendered in full; other times it is obscured or recently absent, echoing the ways in which feminine agency manifests in western society. These threshold spaces, dripping with acidic color, are offered as spaces in which to navigate the mess that is our current reality. Smith holds an MFA from the University of Missouri (Columbia, MO), and a dual BA in Studio Art and English Literature from St. Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA). She is Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Lincoln University of Missouri, where she teaches painting and drawing. She works out of her home studio in Rocheport, Missouri. Explore art at the Zipper Fest on September 12th from 1 to 7pm.

ENTERTAINMENT: Check out Bogus at the Zipper Fest. Bogus is a four piece Bootgaze band from Columbia, Missouri with a lo...
09/01/2026

ENTERTAINMENT: Check out Bogus at the Zipper Fest. Bogus is a four piece Bootgaze band from Columbia, Missouri with a lot of Midwest emo influences. September 12th @ 2pm

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Columbia Children’s Museum Missouri - Benjamin Nielsen's mom always dreamt of opening a kids' museum, ...
09/01/2026

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Columbia Children’s Museum Missouri - Benjamin Nielsen's mom always dreamt of opening a kids' museum, but never got around to it. After a coma from a TBI and a prolonged brain bleed, Benjamin was blessed with a remarkable recovery and incorporated Columbia Children’s Museum. It is his dream to bring his mother’s dream to reality while also helping kids in our community and he feels like he's living his dream every day. His drive is knowing that this museum could inspire even just one child to feel capable of the same thing. Meet Benjamin and learn more about his vision for a Children's Museum in Columiba at the Zipper Fest. https://www.columbiachildrensmuseum.org/

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Treasured Tropes - As a lifelong book lover and creative, Theresa started Treasured Tropes with the in...
08/31/2026

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Treasured Tropes - As a lifelong book lover and creative, Theresa started Treasured Tropes with the intention to create affordable merch for the bookish community. Everything Treasured Tropes sells is handmade by Theresa in her studio. If you’re a book lover, you’ll find something to love in her shop! Come out and shop at during the Zipper Fest on September 12th in Columbia, MO.

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Como Crystal Shop with Baba Yagas is a diverse woman and Veteran owned business specializing in jewelr...
08/30/2026

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Como Crystal Shop with Baba Yagas is a diverse woman and Veteran owned business specializing in jewelry and crystals. They offer both real crystal jewelry and stones to promote wellness and greater physical being. BabaYaga's offers ethically sourced real bone art and jewelry, as well as other ethically sourced specemines and oddities. Explore at the Zipper Festival on September 12th!

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Columbia, MO

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