Residents join in on some impromptu line dancing that broke out at a recent Friday-night jam session in the reception room of the Spring Hill Civic Center. The sessions regularly draw as many as 100 residents looking for food, fun and music. (Photo by Dustin Kass / dustinkass@miconews.com)
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Kansas Oldtime Fiddlers charm crowd of regulars at Civic Center
Local chapter’s monthly jam sessions home to singing, dancing and laughter
By Dustin Kass, dustinKass@miconews.com
Laurene Salyer flits around the crowded room on a cold Friday night. One moment, she’s pulling a friend up out of her seat and toward the dance floor. The pair bob to the music, a dead-on rendition of “Folsom Prison Blues” crooned by an elderly man strumming his guitar, his oxygen tank at his side. Throughout the room, feet are tapping and knees are bouncing to the music.
A few minutes later, Salyer is flirting and joking with a man on the other side of the room. After much persuading, she finally convinces him to take the floor with her, and the two begin dancing slowly to “And Today I Started Loving You Again.”
The music and the people are what drew Salyer and more than 75 others to the Spring Hill Civic Center on Jan. 25 for a jam session, which are held on the fourth Friday of every month. Most of the people in attendance are also members of the Spring Hill chapter of the Kansas Oldtime Fiddlers, Pickers and Singers, which meets in the same location on the second Friday of each month. They enjoy the songs, the conversation and the laughter. And many of them, like the 93-year-old Salyer, end up feeling much younger than they really are.
“I just can’t dance enough,” she said, mentioning she moved to Spring Hill to live with one of her children after her husband of 72 years passed away. A new singer steps up to the microphone, belts out the first lines of his song, and Salyer is moving back to the dance floor set up in the middle of the Civic Center’s reception room.
“She’s such a social butterfly,” said Julie Joeckel, Spring Hill chapter president.
The social aspect of the Friday night events is what draws many people, Joeckel said, especially seniors who might have lost their significant other.
“It’s just a great opportunity for them to get out, maybe have a laugh,” she said. “Otherwise, they might not even get out on a winter night like this.”
The chapter is one of the largest in the state, Joeckel said, and the Friday-night events regularly draw people from Overland Park, Louisburg, Paola, Lee’s Summit and even as far away as McLouth, Kan. Potlucks are held before both events each month, as attendees kick off the evening by sharing food and stories at 5:30 p.m. The events are open to the public.
The music starts around
6 p.m. as several of the regular attendees usually sing the first songs, accompanied by a collection of amateur musicians on their instruments at the front of the room. The ensemble at the most recent event included musicians on bass and electric guitars, piano and fiddle.
The songs throughout the night leaned toward older country tunes, as one singer after another steps to the microphone in a karaoke-type procession that often lasts until 9 p.m. or later. Each singer performs a pair of songs before yielding to the next person on the sign-up sheet, the collection of musicians doing their best to provide the appropriate accompaniment on each new song. Several of the musicians said the songs are pretty consistent week after week, so even if they don’t initially know how to play it, they can pick it up within the next few meetings.
The dance floor, which is just an open space in the middle of the room ringed by the 11 tables people are sitting at, is occupied frequently throughout the night. A collection of line dancers took to the floor during a couple upbeat tunes to the delight of the spectators. Four or five couples could usually be found slow dancing or two-stepping on the slower ballads.
Those same songs elicited their share of tears from those in the crowd. Two elderly women teared up at a rendition of “Blue Rose Is.” Both women, who asked that their names not be used, said the songs reminded them of their deceased husbands. Despite the tears, though, both said they liked the chance to remember the times with their husbands and they really enjoyed the evening.
Their feelings of enjoyment were echoed by Dave and Pat Blackwell of Olathe. The pair makes the trek to Spring Hill for nearly every chapter meeting and jam session, Dave said.
“We come mainly for the fellowship,” Dave said. “You always see the same people, and they’ve become some of our really good friends.”
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A few minutes later, Salyer is flirting and joking with a man on the other side of the room. After much persuading, she finally convinces him to take the floor with her, and the two begin dancing slowly to “And Today I Started Loving You Again.”
The music and the people are what drew Salyer and more than 75 others to the Spring Hill Civic Center on Jan. 25 for a jam session, which are held on the fourth Friday of every month. Most of the people in attendance are also members of the Spring Hill chapter of the Kansas Oldtime Fiddlers, Pickers and Singers, which meets in the same location on the second Friday of each month. They enjoy the songs, the conversation and the laughter. And many of them, like the 93-year-old Salyer, end up feeling much younger than they really are.
“I just can’t dance enough,” she said, mentioning she moved to Spring Hill to live with one of her children after her husband of 72 years passed away. A new singer steps up to the microphone, belts out the first lines of his song, and Salyer is moving back to the dance floor set up in the middle of the Civic Center’s reception room.
“She’s such a social butterfly,” said Julie Joeckel, Spring Hill chapter president.
The social aspect of the Friday night events is what draws many people, Joeckel said, especially seniors who might have lost their significant other.
“It’s just a great opportunity for them to get out, maybe have a laugh,” she said. “Otherwise, they might not even get out on a winter night like this.”
The chapter is one of the largest in the state, Joeckel said, and the Friday-night events regularly draw people from Overland Park, Louisburg, Paola, Lee’s Summit and even as far away as McLouth, Kan. Potlucks are held before both events each month, as attendees kick off the evening by sharing food and stories at 5:30 p.m. The events are open to the public.
The music starts around
6 p.m. as several of the regular attendees usually sing the first songs, accompanied by a collection of amateur musicians on their instruments at the front of the room. The ensemble at the most recent event included musicians on bass and electric guitars, piano and fiddle.
The songs throughout the night leaned toward older country tunes, as one singer after another steps to the microphone in a karaoke-type procession that often lasts until 9 p.m. or later. Each singer performs a pair of songs before yielding to the next person on the sign-up sheet, the collection of musicians doing their best to provide the appropriate accompaniment on each new song. Several of the musicians said the songs are pretty consistent week after week, so even if they don’t initially know how to play it, they can pick it up within the next few meetings.
The dance floor, which is just an open space in the middle of the room ringed by the 11 tables people are sitting at, is occupied frequently throughout the night. A collection of line dancers took to the floor during a couple upbeat tunes to the delight of the spectators. Four or five couples could usually be found slow dancing or two-stepping on the slower ballads.
Those same songs elicited their share of tears from those in the crowd. Two elderly women teared up at a rendition of “Blue Rose Is.” Both women, who asked that their names not be used, said the songs reminded them of their deceased husbands. Despite the tears, though, both said they liked the chance to remember the times with their husbands and they really enjoyed the evening.
Their feelings of enjoyment were echoed by Dave and Pat Blackwell of Olathe. The pair makes the trek to Spring Hill for nearly every chapter meeting and jam session, Dave said.
“We come mainly for the fellowship,” Dave said. “You always see the same people, and they’ve become some of our really good friends.”