Two Lafayette County communities have received state designations as a result of legislation that Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed into law Thursday, June 26.

Governor Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 348 into law at a ceremony in Branson, declaring the Southwest Missouri tourist destination as the Live Entertainment capital of Missouri. Also included in the bill were clauses declaring Waverly the Official Apple Capital of Missouri, and Concordia as the Official Patriotic Mural City of Missouri. Both designations were championed by Rep. Mark Nolte (R-Higginsville).

Several statewide recognition days and memorial highways are among the 47 designations and provisions that will become law Aug. 28. Among those is the designation of Interstate 70 between Route 131 in Odessa and the junction with Routes M and O outside Mayview as the Officer Cody Allen Memorial Highway. Allen was an officer in the Independence Police Department who died in the line of duty in February 2024 when responding to a shooting in eastern Jackson County. He had previously spent seven years with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office.

A section of U.S. Route 50 south of Clarksburg, between Cross Lane and Springer Hill roads, will be designated in memory of John Lucas, an EMT and Missouri Department of Transportation crew leader who died in June 2023. The measure also designates every Feb. 20 as John Donaldson Day, recognizing the Glasgow native who became a star pitcher for the Kansas City Monarchs and later a scout for the Chicago White Sox.

Also in Senate Bill 348, MoDOT will receive authorization to standardize and maintain signage along the historic alignment of Route 66 across the state, ahead of the highway’s centennial. The bill also designates May as Alpha-Gal Syndrome Awareness Month and September as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.