ON THE ROAD WITH THE EVERHARTS
“We just finished five shows on the road with Terry
Smith.” Bob & Sheila are in their ‘busy’ time as they prepare for
the granddaddy of all the acoustic music festivals in the upper Midwest,
their ’38th annual old-time music gathering’ in LeMars, Iowa, Aug.
26-Sept. 1. “We had a grand time with Terry,” Bob added, “and we just
finished another neat concert with just Sheila and myself at the Nelson
Farm Museum near Oskaloosa. They have a remarkable old-time farm there,
a beautiful old brick house, even a log cabin. They’ve managed to save
all of their out buildings, including a wonderful old red barn. They
also have a brand-new air conditioned performance center called Bradbury
Hall, which seats right at 400 people. There weren’t that many folks
at the show, I suppose we could blame part of that on the Iowa State
Fair. We had to drive right past the fair grounds going and coming from
Oskaloosa, but even though there were thousands and thousands of cars
parked all over the place, we didn’t get stalled once. Also the Carson
& Barnes Circus was playing in Oskaloosa the same time we were, and I
have to tell you if we weren’t performing, we would have been at the
circus. This is one of the last tent shows that still is a circus.
We’ve seen it a number of times in Atlantic, and it’s a good one.”
Smith.” Bob & Sheila are in their ‘busy’ time as they prepare for
the granddaddy of all the acoustic music festivals in the upper Midwest,
their ’38th annual old-time music gathering’ in LeMars, Iowa, Aug.
26-Sept. 1. “We had a grand time with Terry,” Bob added, “and we just
finished another neat concert with just Sheila and myself at the Nelson
Farm Museum near Oskaloosa. They have a remarkable old-time farm there,
a beautiful old brick house, even a log cabin. They’ve managed to save
all of their out buildings, including a wonderful old red barn. They
also have a brand-new air conditioned performance center called Bradbury
Hall, which seats right at 400 people. There weren’t that many folks
at the show, I suppose we could blame part of that on the Iowa State
Fair. We had to drive right past the fair grounds going and coming from
Oskaloosa, but even though there were thousands and thousands of cars
parked all over the place, we didn’t get stalled once. Also the Carson
& Barnes Circus was playing in Oskaloosa the same time we were, and I
have to tell you if we weren’t performing, we would have been at the
circus. This is one of the last tent shows that still is a circus.
We’ve seen it a number of times in Atlantic, and it’s a good one.”
“Those who were in attendance at our show,” Sheila
added, “really had a nice time, so we felt it was all worthwhile. We are
trying to advise them on things they could do in the future. The lady
who hired us wanted to know if we had any suggestions on how they could
get more people to come see their ‘history farm,’ and my first thought
was maybe a mini-festival of old-time music like we do in LeMars, but
it’s so hard to get anything started these days, especially with older
music. The economy is just a killer. They have lots of space for
campers, even under shade trees, but no hook-ups, so I’m not sure that
would be a plus or not. It’s a paved road all the way to the farm, and
it’s only one mile from Oskaloosa which is a pretty good sized town.”
added, “really had a nice time, so we felt it was all worthwhile. We are
trying to advise them on things they could do in the future. The lady
who hired us wanted to know if we had any suggestions on how they could
get more people to come see their ‘history farm,’ and my first thought
was maybe a mini-festival of old-time music like we do in LeMars, but
it’s so hard to get anything started these days, especially with older
music. The economy is just a killer. They have lots of space for
campers, even under shade trees, but no hook-ups, so I’m not sure that
would be a plus or not. It’s a paved road all the way to the farm, and
it’s only one mile from Oskaloosa which is a pretty good sized town.”
“At last at last,” Bobbie Lhea piped up. “It wasn’t a
budget lunch. Marge Lund, one of our regulars that will be appearing
with Roger Tibbs, the incredible country singer and yodeler from New
Zealand on August 16th at the Oak Tree in Anita, was telling us that she
had lunch at ‘Mimi’s’ a French café at Jordan Creek in Des Moines, and
really enjoyed it, so dad pulled off, and we had a nice evening meal
there. I had beef broullais or something like that, mom had chicken
crepes, and dad had a little sirloin steak with potatoes au grautin and
corn with asiago cheese. I know I can’t spell those words right, but
dad sure blew the budget lunch for this week.”
budget lunch. Marge Lund, one of our regulars that will be appearing
with Roger Tibbs, the incredible country singer and yodeler from New
Zealand on August 16th at the Oak Tree in Anita, was telling us that she
had lunch at ‘Mimi’s’ a French café at Jordan Creek in Des Moines, and
really enjoyed it, so dad pulled off, and we had a nice evening meal
there. I had beef broullais or something like that, mom had chicken
crepes, and dad had a little sirloin steak with potatoes au grautin and
corn with asiago cheese. I know I can’t spell those words right, but
dad sure blew the budget lunch for this week.”