2019 - McDonald County Guide - 13
Noel later capitalized on its Christmas-themed
name, along with North Pole, Alaska, Christmas,
Michigan, Santa Claus, Indiana and Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania. Each year, tens of thousands of Christ-
mas cards and letters are sent to the USPS Noel Post
Office during the holiday season to be stamped with a
postmark reading, "Noel, Mo. - 'The Christmas City
in the Ozark Vacation Land.'" This practice became
popular by the late 1940s when Kate Smith, a radio
and television singer, began telling the "Noel Story"
during her broadcasts.
Noel is home to a Tyson Foods plant, where chick-
en is processed for human consumption. By 2010,
between 400 and 500 Somali refugees, and 60 and 70
Sudanese refugees, out of 1,800 residents, lived in the
town, most of who worked for Tyson Foods.
