Sad
news first off is the Hampton Festival has been canceled. Gladys
Strein who was the promoter of this event, which has been going for a
huge number of years, first in Mason City, Iowa, and more recently in
Hampton, was started by Gladys and her brother. The brother passed away
some time ago, and Gladys kept the festival going. She lives in
California near Riverside, and has been going through a terrible ordeal
with some kind of reverse mortgage she had on her ranch style home.
That created a lot of stress for her, she wound up in the hospital, was
in for about five weeks, and finally released only a week or so ago.
Now she is struggling with some irrational times, and after talking with
her grand-daughter and niece, they have both decided they cannot do the
festival, and asked Sheila and I if we would do it. We would, but not
this year. We don’t have any idea what kind of arrangements Gladys had
made with the talent, or advertising, promotion, even the fees at the
fair grounds had not been paid, so because of such short notice we’ll
not do it this year, but we will next year, and that will require your
help in making it all come back like it once was. We’ll try to keep the
dates the same, Mother’s Day Weekend (a Thur., Fri., Sat. festival
leaving Sunday, Mother’s Day free for other celebrations). So pitch in
and help us if you can, and we’ll bring it back again next year in
Hampton.
Bob Everhart for Country Music News International