Presents

The Vandalia Area Historical Society & Java Goddess Cafe along with our community is pleased to co-host
the Smithsonian Exhibit New Harmonies, Celebrating American Roots Music from June 27 through August 8, 2009

For more information about the Vandalia Area Historical Society vist our Web Site @http://vandaliaareahistoricalsociety.org/
Meetings are held on the third Friday of each month at 6:30 at The Java Goddess on Main Street.

Come and help us Celebrate on

"Puttin on the Ritz" February 28, 2009 - Dinner and Ballroom Dancing - Vandalia VFW Hall 100 Gaslight Road - Menu Lettuce/mandarin/strawberry/pecan with poppy seed dressing salad , Beef Brisket, Chicken Cordon Blue, Baked Potato, Green Beans, Homemade Bread and Cheesecake. Waltz, foxtrot and swing with Bill and Winnie Morgan from Columbia. Bill and Winnie teach ballroom dancing and participate in dancing competitions. Guest are invited to dance and instruction will be provided. Tickets are $25.00 and on sale at Hickman's IGA Vandalia or Vicki Wright 573 594-3657 or vjwright@windstream.net Ticket sales end Feb. 23rd.

6/23 – Old Time Barn Dance
With Professional Square Caller John White and Dancer Teachers
7:00pm to 9:00pm
Opening Night Vandalia Fair Grounds (South Hwy. W)


In many small towns the sense of community has all but evaporated as people go about their busy lives. We believe the Barn Dance will help spark that sense of kinship once again. This event will also encourage local musicians to keep playing. The main idea behind this event is to build community ties and create more interest in Missouri’s musical heritage.

In Missouri, the development, maintenance, and preservation of traditional fiddling has been dependent upon dancing and vice versa. Participants can listen and dance to these same traditional “Missouri fiddle tunes” handed down from previous generations.

This event will be at the Vandalia Area Fair and will be on the opening night of the fair, which is free to the public. Several musicians from the Columbia area will provide the music and the calling. It will be held in the pavilion.


6/28 - Gospel Sing Night
Steve Miller - Praises to Him Gospel
Recommended by the MO Arts Council 7:00pm
Baptist Church Family Life Center(Hwy.54 & N. Lindell)
Gospel music has its distinctive sound and makes its own important contribution to the complex palette of what we call indigenous American music.

This event will show how Gospel music is embedded in the experience of our daily lives and how they fit the functional and symbolic needs of our community. Familiar and favorite songs from gospel will be included.

Steve Miller will present “Praise To Him”. This program is recommended by the Missouri Arts Council. This presentation will be in the Baptist Family Life Center, an excellent venue, with easy accessibility for the patrons, ample seating and a sound system already in place.

7/3 – Americana Night
Creole Fiddler downtown
Horse-shoe contest-7:00pm
John Black- Jazz Piano-7:30pmCreole Fiddler Dennis Stroughmatt et L’Esprit Creole-8;00 pm
History of Creole People Through Music
Downtown Vandalia
Hidden away in the Missouri Ozarks is a language and culture that has been studied by just a few scholars. Their songs, recorded on wax cylinders by song catchers decades ago and thought to have been lost forever, are still alive today, in sleepy little towns with names like Old Mines, Potosi, and Sainte Genevieve. The French frontier of North America, remembered today as the Louisiana Purchase, began in the late 1600’s. Dennis Stroughmatt met and was embraced by the Creole people he met in southern Missouri, and has learned their language, music and culture. He will share this living history with us. This program is scheduled to be presented outside in downtown Vandalia.

7/11 – Grand Ole Opry Night
Tractor Poker
Grand Ole Opry Broadcast-6:30pm
Front Porch Swing – All Female Bluegrass Band – 7:00pm
Hammered Dulcimer, Mandolin, Accordian, Guitar,Bass & Percussion
Front Door Band- Irish Music And Folklore Tales-9:00pm
Downtown Vandalia

Front Porch Swing is an all-female band with varied experiences and backgrounds. They have a full instrumental repertoire that includes hammer dulcimers, mandolin, accordion, guitar and bass, and various percussion toys. Front Porch Swing livens up the stage with a slight twist on familiar traditional tunes that remind you of sitting on Grandma’s front porch. They enjoy encouraging the crowd to sing along. Their performances include, the Grand Opening of Bass Pro Shop as well as Twilight Festival in Columbia, the Victorian Christmas Homes Tour in Fulton, the Missouri State Fair for the Department of Natural Resources, the Pumpkin Festival in Hartsburg and the Boonslick Jamboree Family Festival in Boonville. We’re very proud to also mention that our Dulcimer gal’s won 3rd place Ensemble at the regional contest in Mountain View, AR a few years ago.

In the rugged mountains of the Appalachian region, many musicians and songs remained relatively free of outside influence for generations. Songs and performance styles retained much of their original forms until new musical styles began to infiltrate the region by way of radio and phonograph in the 1920s. Appalachian music contained English ballads and other folk songs from the British Isles and Ireland but evolved into American folk tunes by self-taught rural mountain musicians.

The group “Front Porch Swing” is a group of female musicians from the Columbia, MO area who play folk instruments such as the hammer dulcimer, guitar, mandolin, bass fiddle and even accordion. We learned of this group through a musician in Columbia who is active in bluegrass music in the central Missouri area, and they are very excited to be working up a special presentation for us here in Vandalia.

7/18 – Prairie Stock Night
Car Show-7:00pm
Kansas City Street Band-8:00pm
Featuring Glen "Bummer the Drummer" Ward
A 6 member Rhythm and Blues Band
Recommended by the MO Arts Council
Broken Rules-Rock and Roll-10:00pm
Local Vandalia Band Downtown Vandalia
Glen “Bummer the Drummer” Ward & the Kansas City Street Band

Blues is the single most influential black music of all. It is simple in form but infinitely adaptable and has left its mark on country and gospel and gave rise to jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul and rap.

Glen Ward and the Kansas City Street Band is a six piece Rhythm and Blues, Blues and Jazz band. They have toured all over the USA and the Caribbean for over thirty one years. They will be presenting their “Music mobile, a Brief History of Blues and Soul Music”. This group has a great sound and will be enjoyed by all ages and will also educate the audience about this important and popular American music. They are on the Missouri Arts Council touring roster, and we are very lucky to have gotten them for our local celebration.




7/25 - We Are Family Night
Special Guest- MO MO The Monster
Kids Games-6:30pm
Trivia Contest-7:00pm
CurryKorn-Bluegrass-8:00pm
Mom, Dad, 5 Children & a FAmily Friend
Andrew Winders Band-Rock & Roll-10:00pm
Local Vandalia Band
Dpwntown Vandalia

			Curreykorn features David and Nancy Currey and their five kids, Sadie, John, Luke, Sam and Maggie and good family friend, Jordan Thomas. Their repertoire includes high lonesome bluegrass and gospel songs. From the youngest to the oldest, and with a little help from friends, everyone adds a little flavor to the musical mix.

8/1-Straw Hat Night
Wear Your Straw Hat
Art Show
Street Chalk Drawing-5:00pm
David Reetz Family Band- Bluegrass-7:00pm
Roadhouse Band-Souther Rock-9:00pm
Downtown Vandalia


8/8 – Down Home Night
Jam Session-4:00pm
Music Jamboree- Numerous Local Talent
Downtown Vandalia

Food Vendors Open at 6:00 pm
All Events are FREE