ON THE ROAD WITH IOWAN’S BOB & SHEILA EVERHART
Weslaco, Texas…..:Our last big festival of the year in the Rio Grande Valley was quite a challenge,” Sheila Everhart of the dynamic duo Bob & Sheila, pronounced. “It’s a rather large event called OnionFest in Weslaco. Bob and I had to perform for an hour and a half, at one time, on the main stage, which is not our ‘normal’ play time for any one set, but it turned out very nice for us anyway. Two rather loud bands preceded us, one a rap band and the second one a Christian rock and roll band. We were fearful when we went on with our old-timey music we’d lose the audience, but as it turned out, we had more than the loud bands had. It was a surprise for us to see old friends at this last big festival of the season. My best friend from high school days, who now lives in Texas, came to see us, and some folks that Bob had taken on a caravan some 25 years ago in Mexico came to see us, so we had lots to catch up on when we finished our set. “
“Francis Hahn, our retired CIA agent turned booking agent, did a good job lining up our gigs in Texas,” Bob added, “the OnionFest was a well paying job. Sheila and I had done this festival quite a few years ago, probably when Bobbie Lhea was about three or four years old. Stonewall Jackson was on it at that time, and though the main stage we performed on this year, was not in the same location as it was when Stonewall was there, it was still a rather nice event for us. This was the first time the Weslaco Chamber of Commerce tried a two-day event, and from all indications it worked out pretty good except the largest crowd was on Saturday. They also had a neat ‘horse’ show on Sunday at another location nearby, which was pretty neat. Lots of good food everywhere, and of course you could get some really good onion dishes, especially onion blossoms, which were quite good. We had just done another television show a week ago Sunday and talked about the festival then, so that helped our attendance as well.”
“Now we have to get ready to head back to Iowa,” Sheila added, “we’re packed and ready to go, I just have one last dental appointment in Mexico before we leave. I can’t hardly believe the dentists south of the border. What would have cost me well over $2,000 in Atlantic, Iowa, cost me $400 in Progresso, Mexico, where there are lots of dentists to pick from. Being traveling musicians, it’s next to impossible to get any kind of dental insurance, so it sure has been a lifesaver for me”
“We got to go to South Padre Island,” Bobbie Lhea the Everhart’s 15 year old daughter piped up, “and it wasn’t really a budget lunch, but dad thought it would be great if we ate at Blackbeards Pirate House. I had one of my most favorite seafood dishes, scallops. I like them well done, meaning not mushy, and grilled, and they fixed them just right. Scallops come from the sea shell that looks like the Shell Oil Company logo, and they are nice firm sweet-flavored seafood. I’m anxious to get back home and see some movies, we aren’t close enough to a theater here in Texas to see any. I sure hope Tuesday night is still free popcorn night at the Atlantic Theater.”
“We’ll have a little time to go see a couple of films,” Bob added, “but first we have to get caught up getting ready for SpringFest at the Oak Tree Opry in Anita. We have a really nice line-up of talent coming to perform, so it should be a lot of fun. Bob Duff the multi-millionaire from California, will be doing an auction on Saturday afternoon, and he promised to bring some extra special items from California to auction off with the CD’s we’ll have to sell. For right now, it’s ‘on the road with Bob & Sheila.”