NEWPORT — Country Concert ‘17’s opening, July 6, will be bittersweet this year.
Cofounder Michael Barhorst, who died in March, won’t be there to open the 37th festival with his wife, Mary Jo. But she’ll have help from some other very good friends: the Oak Ridge Boys.
“We talked about it as a family, to do something special. Mom and Dad always opened the show with a welcome speech, and Dad loved to thank everyone that attends and helps us put the event on every year. This year we’ll have a short video and Mom will, again, take the stage, but, we wanted do something that Dad would be proud of and enjoy. The Oak Ridge Boys are Country Music Hall of Fame members and one of Mom and Dad’s favorites,” said Country Concert President Paul Barhorst.
The band performed in Celina, Saturday, and Paul and Mary Jo visited with them backstage. Was July 6 an open date in their tour schedule? Yes, it was, and the band would be thrilled to return to the Country Concert stage.
“This will be an honor and a very special moment,” Oak Ridge Boys tenor Joe Bonsall told the Sidney Daily News by email, Tuesday. “We have always known Mike as a great man with a vision of how to do things right. Honesty, integrity and treating people right is what Mike what was all about, and this wonderful family represent these same values.”
The Oak Ridge Boys will perform a concert of their hits, beginning at 2:45 p.m., July 6. It will be their fifth appearance here. They were onstage for the 1991, 1993, 2001 and 2005 festivals.
“The history was part of the attraction to ask them to do it,” Barhorst said. The Oaks, as they’re known by their fans, had their own reasons for signing on.
“We sing at many such festivals over the course of each year, but what makes Fort Loramie Country Concert so special is the feeling of family that exists there. When our buses pull in to the backstage area, it just feels like coming home. You can almost smell the biscuits. For an act like us who have maintained the years and been able to return time and time again, the family feeling becomes even more evident,” Bonsall said.
The band looks forward to that family feel and the tradition.
“We’re all about tradition,” he said. “When you are invited back to a place time and again, it is not taken for granted, and I assure you, we will be ready to sing. What will make this year a bit different is that we have been chosen to help open the festival by honoring Mike’s memory with the Barhost family on hand.”
“We are honored and thrilled that they were available and willing to help us by being part of the opening ceremony and playing their amazing show full of hits and special moments as a tribute to our dad,” Barhorst said.
Bonsall noted that festivals, including Country Concert, are important to the industry.
“The country music business is bigger and greater then ever and the success of the great summer festivals is mind boggling. Some of these events though like Country Concert and Jamboree in the Hills or WE Fest or Hodag have been around a long time. Someone didn’t just rent a field, throw up a sign and book Keith Urban and away we go. The great, long-time festivals like Fort Loramie are anchor events for new and older fans alike; and if you notice, the great festivals like Country Concert work hard to appeal to the whole family, as well as the younger and older fans, by booking the hot young kids of today and the legends, as well,” he said.
Early bird, discounted tickets to Country Concert are available at www.countryconcert.com through May 15. Tickets can be purchased for one day, two days or three days of music. Camping is also available.
