BQPA/PIONEERS
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Barbershop
Quartet Preservation Association
Quartet Festival, 10-12
September, 2009
Chicago, Illinois
Another Barbershop Quartet Preservation Association (BQPA) Quartet
Festival is
history and has proven to be a great success. Over the weekend of 10-12
September,
2009, one hundred and twenty six Quartet Singers and BQPA supporters
attended the
semi-annual BQPA/Pioneer Quartet Festival in Elk Grove Village, a
suburb of Chicago
IL. People came from the four corners of North America, to include the
US and our
fellow barbershoppers from Canada. There were representatives from the
Phoenix and
Orange County quartet chapters, large contingents from the Twin Cities
and Milwaukee,
and folks representing over a dozen states and provinces.
Thursday evening,
attendance
reached 25 or 30, and several newly formed quartets were sharing
fellowship and
singing
the old songs.
Friday morning there was a golf outing scheduled by Gerry Carroll.
Several of
the early arrivals enjoyed this activity. I am not sure of how good the
scores were but I
hear the singing on every tee was a lot of fun. By early afternoon,
another 60-70
members and guests arrived generating even more excitement.
BQPA board member, Jim Gallagher, brought a supply of recently acquired
BQPA logo golf shirts that sold out by Friday evening. The shirts may
be obtained from
our online store by following the "links" icon at www.bqpa.com. BQPA
logo pins are
available from our treasurer, Herb Langthorp [3 Hits and a Miss]. The
shirts and BQPA
pins being worn by our members and supporters will begin to catch
people’s eye and
who
knows, they might stimulate interest about what we are doing and the
fun we have. We
signed up fourteen new members with our membership growing steadily
with each
passing month.
Hotel accommodations at the Ramada O'Hare were very adequate and the
festival
hosts, Gerry Carroll and his helpers, did a great job in preparing for
the festival. The
staff
at the hotel was very accommodating also.
Chicago area guest quartets, “Take Note” and “Tsunami”, warmed up the
audience for Friday's pickup quartet contest. Both quartets were
awarded standing
ovation. Sixteen Quartets were selected by randomly pulling names from
sacks to
determine who sang together. This equated to 64 folks getting involved
in this fun
activity, with the remainder of the attendees making up the audience.
This pick up
quartet
contest has been named for the late Jinny Janis, a regular attendee of
the
BQPA/Pioneers
and one of the founding singers of the Chordettes. Four judges selected
the top three
quartets who sang the most in tune and entertained best. Gold medals
with purple
lanyards and individual plaques were presented to the first place
winners. After the
contest everyone retired to the “woodshed room” to enjoy some
refreshments and
engage
in more quarteting.
Thanks to our convention host Gerry Carroll, the Ramada allows us
to sell our drinks for $1 and you can ask Bill Meyers, [Citations,
Revival], about the great
taste of the California red. Not sure when the singing room closed
down, as I hit the pad
shortly after the witching hour.
Saturday morning found the hotel restaurant overflowing with singers as
the hotel
had reduced their prices just for us to $5.00 for a breakfast buffet of
eggs, sausage,
bacon,
potatoes, toast, all kinds of pastries and of course juice, milk and
coffee. At 10:00 AM
Saturday, the BQPA'S board of directors held our general membership
meeting with
about 70 members in attendance. It was announced that the Board had
adopted a
resolution to discontinue annual dues and survive on donations made by
the
membership
at our semi-annual quartet festivals. There would remain only a $15.00
BQPA joining
fee. This was accepted by the members with no dissent. No surprise
here! Other
discussions and decisions will be covered in the minutes of the general
meeting and
disseminated when available.
As Saturday morning passed to mid day another 20 folks joined the
festival to
enjoy the singing and the fellowship. Most had lunch in the Ramada's
excellent
restaurant. The Spaghetti Warehouse across the street from the Ramada
was a popular
spot for the evening meal. Our singing at the Spaghetti Warehouse was
well received
by
the other diners.
Saturday evening, we assembled in the Ramada's theatre for our
annual parade of
quartets show, MC'd by Ray Henders, [Chicago News]. Lynn Hauldren,
[Chordiac
Arrest], lined up a wonderful show for our entertainment. First off
were Bitsy and Dick
Beck singing a duet, with Dick playing the guitar. They were very
entertaining and were
well received by the 100+ audience. Following was a Minneapolis quartet
named
“Random Sample” which regaled us with some great music. We then heard
from “Juke
Box” a Sweet Adeline Inc quartet. These gals were on their way to
Nashville to compete
in the SAI contest “Good luck ladies, come home with a medal.” Next was
our perennial
Chicago performers, “Gad Zooks.” These guys continue to be better
entertainers each
time they perform for us. Then came our very own “Three Hits and a
Miss” from the San
Antonio area. All are members and active supporters of the
BQPA/Pioneers. They were
crowd pleasers as usual. “Chicago Times” was next with some fine
singing and several
bits of Ray Henders' humor. After the show, everyone headed for the
woodshed room to
share fellowship and quartet into the wee hours.
Sunday morning found many of the guys in the hotel lobby waiting for
the shuttle
to O'Hare Airport. There was a lot of hugging and hand shaking going
on. Most every
one was overheard saying things such as “See ya in Tempe or See ya in
April, Great
Festival.” The smiling faces indicated that they had a good time and
were looking
forward to our next BQPA quartet festival in the spring of 2010, in
Tempe AZ.
In Harmony
Jack Martin, Pres
For the BQPA BOD