Hey everyone, I'm Sheila Jenkinson and you are listening to the Growing Small Town Nebraska Podcast where my co-host, Marcie Sextro, and I ask community leaders and business owners about their efforts in revitalizing the Cornhusker State. If you love your small town and you're looking for ways to make it even better, or maybe you're interested in what this revitalization movement may mean for you and your family. Join us as we talk with small town Nebraskans making our state the definition of "The Good Life."
Coming County Fair! Family fun and rock'n'roll is here again on August 10 through 13th. Gather your family and head over to West Point to watch the demolition derby, a Bohemian tractor pull, or tough truck competition. There's a slew of family amusement including: Wildlife Encounters the Electrifying Magic of Jay Mattioli, and Colors da Clown; and don't forget concerts with Thomas Mac and the band Warrant. To find out all the exciting things to see go to their website at cumingcountyfair.com. This reminder is brought to you by Visit Cuming County and the Cuming County Economic Development Office.
GROW Nebraska started in 1998 and is a 501C3 educational nonprofit foundation that focuses on helping Nebraska entrepreneurs get access to the global marketplace. They strive to help Nebraska entrepreneurs get more visibility online whether through social media or other platforms and get the connections they need to move their business in a forward direction of growth. They offer a free training to the public every third and fourth Thursday of the month. GROW Nebraska is also a Google premier partner and offers a free Google training to the public every first Wednesday of the month. To learn more about GROW Nebraska you can visit grownebraska.org
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So today, we're excited to have with us Chuck and Linda from the Norfolk Area Concert Association in Norfolk. Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Oh, we're so glad to have you here. So Marcie, I gotta tell you and Chuck, I have to tell you a little bit about how this came to be. Marcie, you've gone to the concerts alot...
Yes, we've been members.
So there's that. So I knew of it through Marcie. One day...I teach piano at Midwest Music in Norfolk... and one of my students canceled and I'm like, oh, I need some lunch. I had gone to the Norfolk Rotary before. We spoke there. And so I contacted my friend Traci, and I'm like, "Are you going to the rotary today?" And she's like, "Yeah, come be my guest."So I get in there. I sit down, I'm talking, whatever. And here comes Linda, who is going to be the speaker. Now I don't know who she is. But she sits next to me. And I've only been to one other meeting, so I don't know but what she's a member of the Rotary. She's asked my name. And I said who I was. And then I asked her name. And you said what?
"I am Linda Libengood."
Yeah.
And you looked at me and your eyes got big. And you said four words I'll never forget: "My mom loves you."
That's right. So Linda, for me, meeting Linda was like meeting a rockstar.
Oh, really?
Because my mom had talked about her for years. They had worked together when my mom worked for the Highway 20 Association.
Yes.
Yeah. And so I'd heard this name and heard this name. And I'm like, "Whoa, it's meeting her in the flesh!" And so that is how this all started. And then when she spoke about this and well, I called you and we just got it rolling.
Yes. We've been members for four years. And my husband I, that's our date night. We love it. Let's get started talking about the Norfolk Area Concert Association. Chuck, can you tell us how it got started? And what's your group's mission?
Absolutely. So the Norfolk Area Concert Association has been around 70 years, and we celebrate that this year. So 70 years we've been providing some great entertainment. Years ago, there were the Chautauqua tours, those were the traveling minstrel shows and vaudeville. And they had created a national appetite for live performances. So the Norfolk community wanted to be a part of that. But the vaudeville shows and the minstrel shows are disappearing from the scene. But there was still a demand for lots of concerts, live concerts. So the question was how to find a new way to cover their cost. Instead of trying to make up a deficit after the fact, people thought why not raise money first, and then hire the artists and that's kind of the philosophy of our concert association in Northeast Nebraska. This concept and this association uses that same type of financing to this day, we do not purchase more entertainment than we have collected from our previous season. And so it ensures the success of our association.
That's wonderful. So Linda, every year you have to choose acts. Can you tell us a little bit about how you do that?
Absolutely. Our board of directors, which we have a twenty person board, meets usually September or October, and we have film of the entertainment, we get to choose what we want. We try to pick different genres of music. And we have, as Chuck explained, we have to keep in mind our budget, but we try to find things we think our audience will enjoy. We know what we've had in the past, and what worked well for us. And that's how we pick our entertainment. And this year, we bumped our budget just a little bit, because we wanted to have just a little more power in our entertainment. And we feel we have a great lineup this year.
I'm looking forward to it.
I'm super excited about it. Like you said, it's a great variety of shows. So you're getting so much for your money. It's such a great deal.
It is.
Yeah. So we're going to talk about that in a little bit. Chuck, you have a long history, right with the Norfolk concert Association as well.
My history is relatively long, but not as long as some of the board members but yeah, I'm very familiar with the organization.
Alright, so can you share some of the member experiences that maybe are a little more memorable?
Absolutely. So I think probably one of the most memorable ones. I think a lot of the audience would recognize the name of Doc Severinsen. He was the bandleader for the Johnny Carson Show, we were able to have him come to our area and provide a concert. So that was a great opportunity to see live entertainment that you see on television every night. If you watch the Johnny Carson Show.
Well, and in the Johnny Carson theater, I'm sure that was just a double kind of wonderful experience for him as well as the audience.
It certainly was, you know, some of the other memorable experiences or some of the bands that we've had. We've had some of our members dancing in the aisles.
Well, there you go.
They get so inspired to get up and it sounds so good...
So that's allowed?
...that they can't hold themselves back.
Okay, yes, that last concert, the Chicago tribute band, they were absolutely phenomenal. It was so fun to watch. There was a couple dancing. There were people doing things with their phones, the lights on their phones. They really had the crowd going, it was a wonderful experience. We enjoyed it so much!
I'm super excited to hear that I'm going to be one of those that's up there dancing. And my husband as well. He just doesn't know it yet.
Linda, you're celebrating the 70th season of the Norfolk area concert series. And we talked a little bit about how you choose the shows. But, what is in store for us this year?
Wehave a number of great shows! We're going to kick off with our headliner. Our first show is going to be the Phat Cat Swinger. They're a phenomenal act; (a lot of) lot of energy. And they also dress the part of the jazz. And that's going to be wonderful. Then we have the Folk Legacy Trio, which those gentlemen have been around for quite some time. They sing songs from Peter, Paul, and Mary; the New Country Minstrels, you're just going to love their sound, they blend, it's wonderful. And then we have the Pop Rock Orchestra. Actually, we've had them here twice before, every time they perform with us, it's a different show. And they're going to do some real high energy rock and roll and yet it's not so rock and roll that everybody can't enjoy it. I think everyone will love that show. Then we have the Sinta Quartet, which is a saxophone group, a little bit more contemporary sound, but we like that mix of music and singing.
Oh, Ihope my daughter is back around that. When's that scheduled for?
That one's scheduled in March.
Okay, because she's a saxophone player. And she plays in a quartet at her college. And so that would be wonderful.
Wonderful. Wonderful.
What else?
And we always encourage students and kids to come to our shows. It's only $10 for all season for students to attend.
Wait, (did I) did I even hear you right? Ten dollars?
Ten dollars for all six shows.
That is great!
That includes college students.
Oh, yes.
Oh, wow! Oh, there's no reason not to
Yes.
Yes.
Oh, yeah, it's awesome.
And then our fifth show is the Divas 3, and they are a really classy group of ladies; and they sing songs that are tributes to female singers. I think everyone's going to enjoy that sound. And then of course, one of my favorites is going to be the Abbacadabra. They play the sounds of ABBA.
Oh!
And I don't think anyone can't relate to ABBA. ABBA is sort of finding its way back into the mainstream. Again, we're hearing about them. And as we pick our entertainment, we try to have different entertainers. We're seeing a real interest in what we call tribute artists. All of these (sing) they sing it their way but they are like the ABBA is, particularly a tribute artist group. Nice variety.
Absolutely.
Well, one of the things that's fun with the tribute groups is it's songs that we're all familiar with, you know, and so the audience involvement is always huge with those.
Yeah they really are.
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Let's talk about...since we started talking about membership...
Sure.
So $60 for six concerts.
That's for adults. Yes, $60 get you into all six concerts. It's a tremendous bargain.
It is.
And then for students, it's $10. And that gets them into all six. So families can afford to attend these shows at $10 apiece, when you break it down for six concert.
Yeah, It's really unheard of.
Yeah.
Honestly.
And it's such a wonderful experience for our area. And it isn't just people from Norfolk, you know, the whole surrounding community can buy tickets, it's not that far to go it's a lot closer than going to Omaha for a concert and way cheaper.
You're right, Marcy, when people come to our shows, it's good for the whole community. People do come from about a 65 mile radius. We keep track of our membership by zip code. We know how far our audiences coming from. They shop, they gas, they buy supplies, they eat, they eat after. They're always looking for someplace to go for ice cream or some treat after the concert. So it's good for the whole community.
It is.
And we are able to offer these concerts at such a great price because of the volume of tickets we sell. We normally have sell out concerts. And right now, we're in the middle of that membership drive. Tickets are available, but they are going.
Yeah. They're available, but they're limited, right?
Correct.
And you have us doing some work on your Facebook page this year. We're super excited to be a part of that as the podcast. You know, they're gonna want to get their tickets fast. And they're also going to want to go ahead and like that page, follow that page, because there's going to be a big giveaway. Listeners, hey, make sure you're doing that right now. Share it with your friends, invite your friends, things are going to be ramped up there as well.
You also have an ability. This is one things my husband I really enjoyed about it was that if we weren't able to make a concert here in Norfolk, because we were out of town, we could go to Yankton, or Grand Island. So tell us a little bit about that.
We have reciprocity with some of our other concert associations. So you can go as Marcie just mentioned; Columbus, Grand Island, Yankton, and Fremont. And it only costs $5 additional to attend any of their concerts. We do print all of those concerts, on our programs and on our tickets. So you can easily see if you didn't get to go to Phat Cat Swinger and one of the other towns in the area has that group, you're welcome to go there. And it costs you $5 additional for each ticket to go into their concert. So it's it's more than just six concerts. If there's other ones you want to travel to go see.
Oh, that's great.
Yeah, so Chuck, how did you get started with the Norfolk Area Concert Association.
I was gonna ask that too.
(Laughing.)
Well, because it's gotta be a labor of love. Right?
Absolutely. But you know what, it is a community service for one thing, and that's really important to my wife and myself. I've been attending these concerts, you know? Since I've been a resident of Norfolk, which is over 40 years, and so I have enjoyed them. And for the majority of the 70 years, it sounds like, but every time I go, I'm always amazed at the quality of the talent for the price. As we already have mentioned, it is just fun to see your friends, as some people make it a date night as my wife and I do. It's an opportunity to get awa, maybe from the kids, if that's what you choose, or bring the kids along, as we said, the student passes are very reasonable as well, definitely, it brings a culture to our community that isn't always available. And I know during the summer, we always seem to have the free concerts with the Music in the Park. Well, this is kind of carrying on that tradition a little bit, although you do have to pay for this. And you can't have a beverage like you could in the park. But we certainly encourage you to come just for the entertainment and for the opportunity to hear some great professionals do their thing
Live music, there just isn't anything like it. It's so different to be able to hear it that way and experience that in that setting. And Johnny Carson Theater is such a phenomenal audio place. Anyway, we're so blessed to have that.
It's so great, because you can hear and see from anywhere you sit in that theater. So yeah.
The theater holds approximately 1200 people. So our goal this year is to sell that out there. And so we're not there yet. But I believe that we will probably exceed that number and may have to turn people away if they are not hurrying up to get their ticket sales.
How about you, Linda, was there a favorite moment that you've ever had through the Norfolk Area Concert Association,
you know, I can't think of a favorite right off. Because I've really enjoyed meeting some of the performers. I also work for Allied Concert Services, which is our parent company that brings all this entertainment to us. So I get to travel around and introduce all of the entertainment and I will be going to see the new entertainment for next year in Minneapolis in a few weeks. And it's really fun to talk to some of these performers. They love coming to Norfolk, they've heard about the Johnny Carson Theater. We are the envy of the concert associations in Nebraska for sure. Chuck talked about the 1200 seats. When Johnny Carson funded the theater, he wanted 1,234 seats. That was his Carson humor. And the Concert Association has had great success. As Chuck alluded to, we normally sell a little over 1200 tickets, we're very fortunate. But we're making it all out push for our 70th year because we want to have a really great 70th Anniversary.
We're excited. And we're happy to help build the excitement with you because it's such a great benefit to the Norfolk area, and to all of us.
So we just want to say congratulations on seventy years. That's a really awesome thing. And we're so thankful that you and your committee are putting that time and effort into making such a wonderful thing available for our families in this area.
Well, I'd also like to mention that if it wasn't for some of our bigger sponsors and donors, a lot of this would not be possible. So we look forward to having other commercial entities become sponsors for this. We've been very blessed in Norfolk to have that available to us over the years. And I'll be going out into some of the solicitation areas and try to get some more of that to occur here in the next couple of weeks. I just want everyone to know how grateful we are for those people. And we encourage all of our attendees to look over our sponsor sheets, and to thank them for the park that they do for our community and for our area.
Absolutely. This area is so supportive of just each other. And so,good luck. I don't think you're going to need it. I know everybody's gonna want to be on board. So I'm looking forward to you having a great year with that as well. We do have one final question that we like to ask everybody who joins us on this podcast. Chuck, I'm gonna start with you. What do you love about living in small town, Nebraska?
Oh, that's easy thing to answer. I have multiple examples of how people just step up. They don't have to be asked the ability for them to be a part of a small community and to have the opportunity to feel like they are a part of this community is (is) important. I think the concert Association offers that a lot of our board members are volunteers. The only paid position is Linda, and she'd probably do it if we wouldn't pay her, because she's so good at it. By and large. Just the generosity of this community has always amazed me as I have resided here for over forty years. And when you look around and see everything that's being built and the monies that are donated to make all that happen. It gives me great pride to say that I'm a part of Norfolk, Nebraska.
Oh, absolutely. And Linda, how about you, the small town Nebraska life? What do you love?
Well, he was so eloquent. I hate to follow that. But I guess one thing I like about Norfolk and our size is that when you walk down the street or you go into a store, you know, the people that are there, you can call somebody by name, they know who you are. And I just I like that. It's the comfort to me of knowing people and knowing where to go when you want something or asking someone because they know. So I just always feel there's a great network in smaller towns.
All right. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast. We appreciate it.
Thank you for having us.
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The Norfolk Area Business Resource Network connects entrepreneurs, new businesses, and existing businesses to programs and resources that promote growth and sustainability from business planning, technical assistance, and marketing plans, to gap financing. The Norfolk Area Business Resource Network and its partners are here for you. When services are streamlined, businesses can spend less time working to overcome challenges and more on their bottom line. Call them today at 402-844-2260 or visit Norfolksmallbiz.com
The Norfolk Area Concert Association is excited to bring world class entertainment to northeast Nebraska for its 70th season. Performances presented throughout the series season are selected to appeal to all ages and an affordable membership price. The 2023 -024 Season showcases six concerts including the Phat Cat Swingers, the Folk Legacy Trio, Sinta Quartet, Pop Rock, Abracadabra, and Divas 3. Season tickets for all six shows are $60 for adults and $10 for students. The concerts are held in the Johnny Carson theater. So get your tickets today by going to the Norfolk Area Concert Association website. Here's looking forward to seeing you at what will be another year of sensational productions. The Norfolk Area Concert Association is a local nonprofit organization supported entirely by subscriptions and patronage
