Whew, this day has been looming on the calendar as a toughie, but it turned out really well! I was worried about performing outside, and about getting to the second show on time.
The morning show in Muskogee was in the parking lot behind the library, and it was part of their end of summer reading centennial party. I didn't know if my program, which works wonderfully indoors, would translate well in the great outdoors. There were tables full of prizes and other potentially distracting activities laid out for later, and the day was quickly warming up. A scattered, distracted, possibly uncomfortable audience can spell bad news for attentive participation.
However, there was a nice breeze and I set up on the loading dock in the shade, with the sound system blasting, so I figured it would at least be fun for me!
As it turned out, the kids were fantastic. They sat down and behaved just like a great library audience in a program room. I was pumped due to the unusual circumstance, and gave a high-energy performance. Even the song introductions were snappy - with the audience so far away I ditched my usual chatty approach, getting me from song to song much more quickly while still providing the needed background. I hope I can remember how I did that!
The crowd clapped after each chorus when Evalyn sang Oklahoma Annie, and they gave her quite a send off at the end. She even received a nice complement from the Mayor of Muskogee (who was there to decree Oklahoma Kids Day after my part of the program).
I'd say this morning's show turned out to be one of the very best of the whole summer!
In order to get to Okmulgee on time, we needed to be packed up and on the road half an hour quicker than usual, and we made it no problem.
The Okmulgee Library has been remodeled and expanded since the last time we were there. Evalyn was very impressed with the architecture. I was very impressed that they now have an elevator to the basement, so loading in was a breeze.
My parents and Evalyn's cousin, Brittany made it to the second Okmulgee show (see the photo above). This was cousin Brittany's first chance to see Evalyn perform. The girls had a blast running around together after the show, and then we all met for dinner in Tulsa on the way home. Fun fun!
Tomorrow's program in Duncan is the last show on our Summer 2007 tour!!!
See you at the library!
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