* There is a nominal fee for the PVI session.

     At Prairie Echoes Chorus we will have a picnic after our July Harmony Classic contest!
We have a member who has farmland.  They have a pool, gabezo, and a tractor that members can ride on.  The loader can go three across.  Up up up they go!  They get a ride round the 'farm' - a farm with no animals.  It is like a ride on the dentist chair but a lot more fun!  You should see the pictures of that . . . holy moly!  It is so unique to be there . . . I wish you all could come along and sit a spell!
     The food, of course, is out of the world, like all cookouts are.  Certain spouses can cook like crazy and we all pass a dish. Usually the dish is not empty -- ha ha.  Or I can be like Chris Noteware and use potato chips as the dish to pass.  She used to say, "Hey, it's potatoes!"  There are so many women who can really cook!  I am just average that way, but I have a great recipe for potato salad.  I make it from scratch and it is dandy!
     When the darkness hits, and the swimming is done, the loader rides are done, and most of the food is gone, we sit in the porch, decks and gabazo and just talk and laugh and sing and drink wine or beer or pop or water and keep on keeping on!  In fact, there is plenty of room to spend the night!
     It is a treat to have our picnics.  It is a treat for us to sing on the International Stage in July.  It is a treat to be a Prairie Echoes member.  Life is good.  And Region 3 is part of that!

     Harmony Weekend in Harrisville Michigan could be every Sweet Adeline's dream vacation.  It takes place over the extended Labor Day weekend, in and around Harrisville State Park, and has been an annual event in my life for about twenty-eight years.      
     The entire park is filled with barbershop harmony, on the beach, in the campsites, at the ranger station, and even in the bathrooms.  Many Barbershoppers and Sweet Adelines camp there for a total fifteen-day stay, but the planned activities start on Thursday, so everyone tries to be there by then.  Sunrise Harmony Chapter, region #2, hosts an open rehearsal/party for all women in the park that evening, with lots of fun, good food, mass chorus and quartet singing, and commeraderie.  On Friday, there is a golf outing in the morning, a women's mass chorus rehearsal in the afternoon, and informal performances in area restaurants in the evening.       
     Saturday morning is the start of one of the biggest art fairs in the state, which takes place within walking distance of the campground.  Quartets and choruses provide some of the entertainment throughout the two-day event.  Back in the park, there is a kids' "noise parade", followed by a talent show for them, hosted by a couple of Sweet Adelines.  The women have another mass chorus rehearsal in the late afternoon.  That evening, there is a show at a local church hall, including the mass chorus of all Sweet Adelines in attendance.  On Sunday, quartets provide much of the music in area churches, before taking part in a parade through Harrisville.  The parade ends at the harbor, where an outdoor barbershop show takes place, again featuring quartets, choruses, and the mass chorus.      
     If interested in camping at Harrisville for Harmony Weekend, get your reservations in early ..... for next year, that is.  This year is sold out!  

     When considered fLIP fLOP what our favorite summertime activity as a quartet was, we unanimously answered "Our retreats"!
     One of the gals has a cabin in the middle of the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan's Western Upper Peninsula. We had no idea when we made our first 8-hour- one-way drive (starting at 6pm in the evening - arriving a little after 2am) that this would be one of the best things that we could have done early on in our quartet experience!  We bonded as friends as well as vocalists, building a stronger singing unit.  We were on a musical mission to build a repertoire and a personal mission to kick back and have some fun.
     The fun part was the easiest!  Did you ever dream a road trip of such length could go by in the blink of an eye while singing your way to the destination? Would you be interested to know how exciting it is to work a 4-wheeler through dusty trails, only to be met by a bear cub while trying to get to a waterfall?  With no mama in sight, we got out of there as fast as we could.  Now that would have made a great entry for one of those funniest home video shows!
     The eight-hour drives went by very quickly, with four gals singing their way to the middle of nowhere and back, and proved very productive to our musical mission.  The best memory EVER, however, and one that we still talk about and reflect upon today, was the night that we stood up around the campfire, about 2am, looked up at the sky that was filled with stars so abundant it took our breaths away, and sang "America the Beautiful."  It was the most moving of any run-through that we have ever done.  We have tried to recapture the moment many times to no avail.....
     So, off we go again in a few weeks....more songs to learn, more wildlife adventures no doubt; maybe we will capture another inspirational moment at 2am singing up to the stars!