CFTC-Hutchinson

      Concerts For The Cause ended its 2015 Summer Season in Avenue A Park this past Saturday with a benefit for Reno County Head Start.  The event packed the park with families and children numbering in the hundreds, as all of the school districts in Reno County showed up to represent their schools.

      The lines formed early for hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and drinks.  There were tables set up for face painting, arts and crafts where you could make paper instruments from paper plates; chalk drawings graced the stage, the overflow ramp and the sidewalk surrounding the river, bubbles flew about in the air, the Hutchinson High School cheer squad was everywhere interacting with the kids and helping out with various activities. The cheer squad even lead the various area schools Head Start programs in a cheer, individually and together as a group.  There was even a roving Minion circulating throughout the crowd.

 

 

     And there was music.  Stevie Warren of Road 23 started off the evening with The Star Spangled Banner and she was spot on.  This is an incredibly hard song to sing and very few people can sing it well.  There was no hesitation in her voice and she hit every chord of the song.  It was amazing and the crowd chatter over across the river from the stage was all about how she had made everyone one so proud with her rendition of the song.  A lot of hooting and hollering after the song should have also showed her how much the crowd enjoyed her efforts.

     Up first was Hutchinson's own, Brody Baker.  Baker is one of the most requested performers from this season, and even though he was a bit congested, he was in fine voice.  He did a variety of covers, including one that has become a crowd favorite, his version of I'm Yours by Jason Mraz.  The song has a calypso beat to it which was perfect for a summer evening.  He finished up his set with an original song, Man Of The Hour.  Baker, unfortunately, doesn't have any other upcoming shows scheduled in the near future.  But I'm sure we haven't heard the last of him.  Many performers are winding down their schedules now as concert season is drawing to a close. 

     For the past couple of years, Concerts For The Cause has had a very dedicated volunteer who has shown up at every show to help set up before the show and tear down after the show.  His name is Charles and he plays guitar and sings.  He's been asked on more than one occasion to perform for the CFTC audience and finally, this past Saturday, Charles performed live on stage.  He did a couple of cover tunes, including Buy Me A Mercury by Alan Jackson which had the crowd singing along with the words.  Charles can be seen performing outside various business's on Third Thursday.

     Cosmo, the spray-paint artist who had the crowd entranced at last year's Kansas State Fair, and then returned to Hutchinson for The Comic Con and Smallville Festival this year, painted a large painting featuring a small boy and Superman symbol on it.  He donated that painting to Concerts For The Cause with the proceeds to be donated to a worthy organization. CFTC chose to donate that painting and its proceeds to Reno County Head Start who held a drawing to give it away during the concert.  And one lucky person in the audience won the painting.

     Finally it was time for Road 23.  This group performed on live TV on The Brett and Sierra Show the Thursday before the party in the park.  They quickly became the most shared video performance that The Brett and Sierra Show has ever had in its history.

     Stevie Warren is the lead singer for this group and she started off strong.  The evening was winding down, twilight was creeping in, everyone had eaten and participated in activities, and it was time to sit back, relax and just let the music wash over the gathered crowd.  In fact, more people joined the group in the park which was nearly bursting with folks at this point, to hear Road 23 perform.  They did an amazing job with favorite covers which covered the genre's of rock, folk, country and my favorite, music from The Eagles.  There was even a Sinatra tune in the mix called Fly Me To The Moon.  Road 23 performed on Sunday at The Block Party at Cornerstone in Winfield and they'll be at the Nehemiah Festival in Smithville, Missouri in September.

     All in all a perfect evening with a cool breeze, autumn like temperatures, food, folks, and fun.  Hutchinson really turned out for the final show of the Concerts For The Cause 2015 season.  An amazing time was had by all and even better, the community has gotten the word out about the Head Start program, what the program is all about, hopefully reaching even more potential students who could make use of Head Start's services.