From bagpipes and banjos to guitars and dulcimers, music filled the American Legion Hall in Libertyville last weekend as the David Adler Cultural Center threw its annual folk music birthday bash, celebrating 19 years of Friday Open Stage and Jamming Nights.
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Longtime Open Stage participants such as Jenny Armstrong; Don & Marcia (and daughter Mary) Morman; Fred Campeau and Mitch Thomas; and Phil Cooper and Paul Goelz took turns at the mike. The Volo Bogtrotters struck a swing-your-partner beat, with Tony Scarimbolo and Paul Tyler calling the steps.
But the big exchange of warm fuzzies came when former Adler Center director Doug Miller and wife Bonnie, the popular folk-singing couple who started the Friday sessions 19 Januarys ago, took the stage. They left the center in 1991 to direct the Folklore Village in Dodgeville, Wis.
“This is our first family,” Bonnie told the audience after a resounding welcome.
After the concert, Doug said, “It feels good to come back. It’s nice to see so many friends.”
Given the arctic freeze outside, the 60 people who turned out had to be good friends or die-hard folk music fans, such as Roseanne and Vern Lappe of Mundelein.
“The weather wasn’t going to stop us. We always come to these. We like folk music,” Roseanne said.
The fans also included other folk music professionals such as Bob Gand and Lana Rae from the Village School of Music in Deerfield.
“When I’m not playing folk music, I’m listening to it,” said Rae, explaining why she attended. But she really admired the fans who braved the cold. “These people must really love folk music,” she said.