by carroll
(Columbus, NM)
Bring your own RV chairs, or maybe use a couple of the 100+ "town's chairs" around the Stone Co. (Mountain View, AR) Courthouse and enjoy free music. Usually for 8-9 months each year there are 8 to 20 clusters (maybe 2-12 musicians each cluster) of musicians scattered around the courthouse and across the street(s) in businesses "yards", on the corners and many times in several RV Pks w/in walking distance of MV, AR. All musicians are welcome to participate and/or go to another cluster (or start your own individual-"act" or cluster group). Anybody play a harmonica, sweet potato, fiddle?
Our favorite RV Pk is Whitewater RV Pk(WWRP) 3 short blocks from the courthouse (many blocks in MV are only 3-4 small family homes on each side of the street). WWRP has the "Gathering Place" (outdoor pavilion w/roof, partial rails and chairs for several musicians). We RVers can hear the singers/musicians from our RVs, join in w/our instrument or bring over a couple of our RV chairs and enjoy the musicians. Or, WWRP has an enclosed "Pickin' Shed" with chairs for rainy days, cool evenings (heated bldg), and a/c for warm/humid days. How does this weather report for MV, AR sound: Oct-av high: 74F & av low: 46 AND Nov-av high: 60 & av low: 37. Ref:http://countrystudies.us/united-states/weather/ Where can you get better temperatures and free music?? "Q", AZ in Dec, Jan, Feb and Mar-------
In addition MV,AR has reasonable priced admissions for the Ozark Folk Center, Taylors' "Sons of the Ozarks", Brickshy (i.e. 1-brick shy of a full load), "Leathernecks", Cash's "Hoedown", AR Folk Festival, free-Beanfest (free pinto beans & cornbread---for ALL), Bluegrass Festival, free-"Car Show" (bring your '57 Chevy, 39 Plymouth street-rod, etc), free-"Outhouse race", Jimmy Driftwood Barn (weekends only with a donation jar passed around the audience), etc. J. Driftwood wrote 6000 songs and had 300+ published, such as: "North to Alaska", "Sink the Bismarck", "I'm Too Young to Marry", "Banjer Pickin' Man", "Tennessee Stud", "Battle of New Orleans" to name a few of his more famous songs.
Even the Senior Center's lunch program has free music at least once a week (several seniors dance).
See you there from early Oct to after mid/late-Nov.