It’s hard to explain just how neat it is to be a partner in such a cool thing… The Glass City Opry is a premiere Bluegrass concert series that my partner and I run, here in Maumee, Ohio. We have national acts come once a month and it’s really cool. I love it. It’s tough, but it’s a personal milestone in my life.

At the intermission, I was up on stage with Jeff, talking about the next shows and doing our drawing for goodies from sponsors and I remember looking out into the lights and the dark theater from the big stage and thinking… oh my gosh… I can’t believe we’re making this work. 35 shows under our belts. Three years in August. Wow.

I’ve gotten to meet some of the best and the brightest stars of bluegrass music… here… on stage, backstage at our own place!!! Unbelievable. IIIrd Tyme Out, Michael Cleveland, New Found Road, David Davis, Ralph Stanley II, and more. And this year is just going to be more and more stars… one of my favorite banjo players of all time, Bill Emerson, a foundational member of the music, is coming in November! Can’t believe it.

It’s just unbelievable at times. Try not to get caught up in the sparkle of it all, but it’s really fun. I wish I could explain how cool it is to be back stage and watching what is going on, to be onstage and hearing the applause when people talk about the Opry and they love it, and all the hard work that goes into the show. It’s neat. Enjoyable. I hope we can keep it going and hit 60 shows in a while…maybe even 100!

Sometimes it feels like one of those reality shows, and I can picture how it might play out as we’re all rushing about and getting ready, some of the tense moments, like when a band member is flying in and late for the show and we’re sending runners to get them, or when something goes awry, but thankfully, that is really pretty few and far between… the show runs very smoothly. We’ve got super volunteers that help out show day and make it all happen.

And during the month, Jeff and I are pretty comfortable with running the day to day stuff, it’s really gotten pretty routine by now. Press releases go out, newsletters, website changes, bookings, and that kind of thing. I think we’ve finally gotten to a point that I rarely have worries or butterflies of nervousness over show day.

I’m just thankful for the experience and something to sit back when I’m a old bluegrass gal and smile about the memories! Hopefully it will be on the way to see the 150th show at the Glass City Opry! That would be a hoot!!!

Goofy…  we’re drawing tickets for the prize and just kind of being silly onstage.  The crowd loves that.