Ode to Evart!

On our first year of Evart, my sweet true love and me,
Stopped at the Evart Funfest just to see what we could see. (1991)

On our second year of Evart, off the two of us went,
We had along our dulcimer and were sleeping in a tent. (1992)

By the third year of Evart, we brought along more toys.
A guitar and two new dulcimers, brought us many joys. (1993)

The fourth year of Evart, a trailer was now ours
With a canopy for shading us and hanging up our flowers. (1994)

Year five, we now are packing in a six-foot upright bass,
We try to come on Tuesday to be sure we'll get a space. (1995)

It's now year six, and somehow we are fitting in more stuff,
Dulcimers, basses, harps, guitars, .... it really is quite tough. (1996)

Year seven, and we've found we've now outgrown our place
With the instruments we're playing, we find we need more space. (1997)

Year eight, we've purchased a truck and new fifth wheel,
We had to sell our house and car but we feel we got a deal. (1998)

Year nine, we quit our day job. It was getting in the way.
We figured we'll get by somehow; we needed time to play. (1999)

Okay we we found a secret, arrive on Christmas Day.
We get electric hook-ups, makes it easier to stay. (2005)

It's now 2013. Lots has changed but some things not.
You pay day by day from the time you save your spot.

But we discovered a way, our spot's still ours next year
And no packing or unpacking which certainly rates a cheer.

We live here all the time. No worry 'bout when to come.
Just pay for a year. It's your space. We ain't exactly dumb.

(PS at $17 per day that equals $6,205 per year - what a bargain!)

You may think of this poem as fiction, but since 1991, when we first came to the festival and became involved with music, we have built a "typical" instrument collection which currently consists of: six dulcimers (sometimes more), two autoharps, two harps, an upright bass, an acoustic/electric bass, a tenor lute, two tenor banjos (one a Bacon and Day Silver Bell), a 1929 Gibson tenor guitar, three handcrafted O'Riroden penny whistles, an old accordion, a fiddle, a keyboard, plus harmonicas, some inexpensive recorders and whistles, and numerous instruments under construction (a banjo, another harp, autoharp and a fiddle minus strings). In 2010, we'll arrive at the festival about nine days before the start of the festival. In 2004, I honestly did quit my "day job". We upgraded to our fifth wheel (the fourth-in-our-series of gradually growing RVs) and got a big diesel truck. In 2006, since the cost of camping went up, I had to rewrite the stanza for "year ten." It had mention "ten bucks a night" and it's now $17 nightly. (But it's still the best bargain out there.) Also, many improvements have been made to the fairgrounds so most folks are getting electric hookups, but this was written when having power was rare. Our life totally changed, because of this wonderful event where we feel we are "at home."

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