Looking out my window this morning, I can’t help but notice the change: the wind is blowing, but then, when is the wind ever not blowing in South Dakota? But it doesn’t look like the hot furnace blast we’ve been experiencing all summer. Without stepping out my door I can tell that I’ll need to put on my fleece jacket before I head out. The green farm fields – yes, there are farm fields outside my door – are turning golden. The wild sunflowers have faded, attracting huge mobs of little birds, presumably feasting on their seeds. Yes, fall is coming, and, more importantly to me, summer, that most glorious of all seasons, is leaving.
So, on one of these last days of summer I write of three outdoor concerts, all of which brought me great joy.
First, the Sioux Falls Municipal Band, which “has been performing without interruption since 1919.” This band is impressive– its 50 members audition to play with this group, and they are excellent musicians. The band performs 2 concerts a week, 17 different concerts in all, throughout the summer. Titles include “Handel with Care”, “Red White and Brass”, and “Heart and Sol”. Performances are at Terrace Park, which consists of a series of grassy terraces leading down to the stage. Behind the stage is a lake, and at 7:00 PM on a summer night, the sun shimmering off the lake, the cicadas in full chorus, we set up our lawn chairs and take in the beauty of a late summer day, with glorious music providing the soundtrack.
Then then there was “Music at the Levitt”, a series of summer concerts every weekend in our new town. The venue is sandwiched between downtown Sioux Falls to the south, and Falls Park to the north – another glorious setting. We finally made it to a concert there on the last day of the series. The band was “Young Dubliners”, an Irish Rock Band, whom I really would never have gone to see if the concert wasn’t outside and, ahem, free. Oh man, what joy. Being outside (you’re getting the idea that being outside in the summer is my penultimate JOY in life), the air was cool, the clouds big and fluffy and every color imaginable. And, I really liked the music!
OK, so let’s talk about the concert that was honestly the most fun I have ever had in my life. Well, the most fun I’ve had in a long while. The JONAS BROTHERS. At the MINNESOTA STATE FAIR. Now, just where do I begin? The fair - hot, I mean 90° steamy hot, chock full of fried food, crying kids in strollers, and a record number of sweaty, very sweaty people.
But who cares? I love the fair, and even better, I was going to see the Jonas Brothers, whom I simply adore. Surprisingly, at least to me, but apparently not to others, I was not able to find a friend who loved these guys as much as I do – no one took me up on my invitation! So, I asked my daughter to join me, she couldn’t make it, but she hooked me up with “friends of friends”. I knew Casey and Kelly would be young, and I had been told they were college roommates. What I didn’t expect is that they are college roommates NOW. This old gray hair grandma was jumping around to “Waffle House” with two very young women. Here is the blessed truth, and it brings a tear to my eye to say this – these young women were so kind to me! It can’t have been easy for them to sit and scream and sing and dance with a woman old enough to be their mother (grandmother?!), but they went along with it. They didn’t act one bit embarrassed or ashamed to be with this crazy lady. They danced with me, nudged me when a new song was about to start, and joined me in the hollering and the singing.
The Jonas Brothers, the State Fair Ferris wheel lit up against my beloved Minnesota night sky, and the kindness of strangers. And fireworks at the end of the concert. What greater joy?
So, there you have it. 3 outside concerts in the summer.
Many of you know another one of my greatest joys is camping. We’ve camped a lot this summer…just quick one-night trips in our new state. Tomorrow, we leave for our big fall camping trip. National Parks in New Mexico and Colorado, and a game of pickleball with my sisters in Denver on the way home!
I’ll be posting my joy in a few weeks.