"Concert on the Prairie"

Due to the kindness of some members of the Zeandale Community Church we were privileged to attend the renowned "Concert on the Prairie," July 16. It is traditionally held somewhere in the Flinthills region of Kansas. If you want an idea of the level of scenery in this area check out a recent issue of National Geographic which contains a photo essay on the Flinthills.

To give you an idea of the notoriety of this concert, the day the 5000 tickets went on sale, they were snatched up in minutes by people who had pre-ordered them online months earlier. Our friends planned to go on line the next day and get their order in for the 2008 concert.

The concert is a massive project. It requires bringing an entire orchestra into the middle of nowhere. No power, no water, no shade, no road. Participants have to walk over a mile from the temporary parking lot to get to the actual site, so there is no motor traffic around the program. Instead the guides are on foot or on horseback. Many of the guides are professional hard working cowboys in their own right, none of the drug store variety. But the scenery is fabulous, lush and green with occasional prairie flowers.

The concert is an all day affair that impacts the entire community wherever it goes. This year the concert was in Wabaunsee County. The economy of this county is based on agriculture and most of that agriculture is ranching. Ranching is not a profitable business. it takes 5-7 acres of land just to feed one cow. So if you had 100 cows (or steers) you would need 500 to 700 acres of land. Very few people can make a living from 100 cows. It is safe to say that this area is economically depressed.

The town of Eskridge went all out for the concert. They took some of the empty storefronts in town and turned them into art galleries for people to see. They had all sorts of sidewalk vendors selling food to the visitors. The United Methodist Women hosted a lunch spot in the park and sold sandwiches and home-made ice cream for a very reasonable price. The food was great.

My wife and I are diabetics, so we opted to skip the homemade ice cream. But our host got some and sat in front of us and savored the entire dish while we had to look on. I got him back in church the next day by telling the congregation what he had done!

At the concert site several tents were set up for venues that operated throughout the day. A great deal of information was presented at the venues. Or you could just sit out and soak up the Kansas sun. The day was breezy which made the heat, around 90 degrees, quite bearable. A huge barbeque kitchen was open for those who wanted to eat. As the day progressed the line to the food venue grew increasingly longer. Some people brought their supper to the concert.

A military re-enactment group from Fr. Riley brought a color guard that dated from the 1800s. The men were in full uniform and were horseback.

The concert was moving. The selection of pieces was superb. The best part for me was Dvorak's New World Symphony.

About 9:00 pm the concert was over and the crowd began its trek back to the parking lot. It was obvious the ones who attended enjoyed what they had seen and heard. Traffic flowed smoothly out of the parking lot and down the several miles of gravel road until we reached the edge of Eskridge.