On Sunday, October 12th, I gave a concert in Carthage, Missouri as part of their 48th Annual Maple Leaf Festival sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. Carthage is a lovely town with lots of history and if you are into seeing the fall foliage emerge then you should definitely put Carthage on your list of places to visit.
The concert itself was sponsored by the wonderful 
Jeanne Goolsby at the Grand Avenue Bed and Breakfast and was held at Grace Episcopal Church. Reverend Steve served as my emcee and he was awesome! As I paused between played some traditional Irish songs and talked about Turlough O’Carolan, the patron saint of lever harpists, he told everyone about visiting Turlough’s grave in Ireland. It was nice to have those personal stories to go with to evening.
It was a great group of people in the
audience. The size was nice so we were able to talk between songs and they asked lots of great questions about the harp and my musical journey. I think everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did. It was a fundraiser for their church youth programs. I hope to go back again next year!
I also can’t say enough about Jeanne and the Grand Avenue. Last year, I called Jeanne out of the blue and asked her if we could take over her place for a harp gathering. She very kindly agreed and it was the beginning of a great relationship. (If you want to see a little video of that event, click here.) I couldn’t get the group gathered again this year but I was lucky that Jeanne asked me to come and pla
y as part of the festival. Rick and I stayed two nights and used it as little romantic getaway break during the busy fall. Jeanne makes amazing food and the breakfast chat with the other guests was grand. I met a fellow Circle of Life cohort and a couple from Oklahoma. The gentleman of that couple is generally based overseas with the state department so we had a fascinating conversation to start the day.
In case you are wondering about the picture in the poster…. I did that last year to show off some new dresses that I bought. It seemed kind of hair-brained at the time so it was very convenient that they came in handy this year to use as part of the Maple Leaf Concert! I love it when my crazy ideas become useful later. I could pretend I planned it that way but that would be way too logical!
The picture of the tractor is just one of the many “vignettes” set up around Carthage to showcase their fall colors.