Mountrail County Promoter - Columnists

And A Good Time Was Had By All!
It has been a busy week around our house. My friend Nancy came to visit from the East Coast and we have packed a ton of stuff into the days she has been here.
Dale picked her up at the airport on Wednesday last week so that I could go to the school board meeting. She had a four and a half hour layover in Minneapolis, which is long enough, but then her flight was delayed leaving Minneapolis. By the time they were both back in the car with her suitcase, it was nearly 6:00 p.m. Keep in mind, she was supposed to arrive around 4:45. I was heading home from school board about the time they were finally getting something to eat.
I played hooky on Thursday afternoon, and Nancy and I went to Minot for the afternoon. We met another friend for a late lunch and then wandered around shopping. We didn’t buy much but we managed to check out plenty of stores.
On Friday, we went to the pep rally, joined friends for supper at The Leader and then went to the football game. After the game it was back to have drinks with those same friends at their house.
On Saturday, Nancy and I decided we should make a trip to the casino. We got there before noon and hung out for a couple hours. Neither of us made our fortune, so we headed back.
We decided to take 1804 on the way home. It’s a different set of scenery, so we thought why not? We were only a few miles out before we realized why not. We took a rock or something to the windshield on Dale’s new Cadillac. It hit just on the edge of it and then spidered across the windshield. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to telling him what happened. We’ve got it scheduled for repairs later this week and fortunately the glass guy is not quoting us the unbelievable price the car salesman tried to tell us it would be if we didn’t chose to buy the extended warranty. We did not buy the warranty and that number might have been giving Dale heartburn until he talked to somebody on Monday.

Saturday night, we were off to the Sibyl Center. Nancy usually comes to visit over the 4th of July. It’s just what we’ve done for years. This year, when the Sibyl Center put out their schedule, Nancy called me and said she wanted to come see Larry Gatlin. So, we changed our usual plans and I got tickets.
On Friday, Kathy Ruland was in the office talking about they were going to open the doors at 6:00 p.m. and we would want to get there early. We did and got our seats, while saving one for Dale, who came just shortly before the show began.
If you were not at the concert on Saturday night at the Sibyl Center, you missed a real treat! South of Mason was up first. They were here last year, but they were known as Texas Stars then. This quartet was amazing. 
They sang country and gospel songs you’ve known forever, including songs like Elvira that showed off the real talent of their bass singer. The harmonies were just perfect.
Then it was time for the main event. Larry Gatlin took the stage and for the first few songs, including my personal favorite “Broken Lady”, South of Mason joined him on harmonies. They came back to the stage for the last couple as well.
In between, Larry was on the stage by himself. There he was, with his acoustic guitar, telling stories that made you laugh and singing songs that took you back to all the hits. His brothers weren’t with him, but after the reception he got, he did sort of promise to come back and bring them with him.
Sitting in the Sibyl Center, listening to that concert, I thought about the past 20 years of concerts in that building. What started as a goal to save an old church has turned into one of the nicest places you will ever find to enjoy good music. They started out with a lot of homegrown, local talent and brought in a few acts each year from other places.
Over the years, the caliber of the acts they brought in continued to grow and this small facility started to get a name for itself. If you are in the audience, there are a lot of people that travel to come to the concerts.
This year, featured some great talent that I ended up missing more of than I wanted to because of Buddy’s injury. The ones I made it too, though, were outstanding. Seeing Larry Gatlin on the schedule made my heart light up and I knew that was one I was going to have to see.
There’s only one more concert left on their schedule this season at the Sibyl Center, but Taryn Lumley is already teasing us with some amazing acts for next year. If you’re a fan of the Sibyl Center, you know you will be in for a treat. If you’ve never been there, you really need to check it out. They are doing amazing things and bringing amazing acts to our small community.

So, as I sit at my desk on Monday, Nancy has spent time visiting some other friends around town. She did that on Sunday, too, while I was trying to get work done for this week’s paper.
We’re going to go to the CTE addition open house at the high school tonight and then we will spend a few hours just hanging out. We have to take her back to the airport on Tuesday morning. I’m going to be sad to see her leave, but she’s leaving so many wonderful memories of the last week behind. I’m pretty sure it’s my turn to go out to visit her next, but depending on that Sibyl Center schedule next year, I might just get her to come back!