By D. E. Lindstrom 



THorSANDS of cirs poured in and 

 r.ipijly took up tlu- paikini^ spaces arounJ 

 the Illinois Memorial Stadium at the L'ni- 

 versiiy of Illinois on the evenini; of Septem- 

 ber 1 as 2^,000 people gathered in the west 

 stands to witness the first novelty band, square f" 

 dance, and folk dance festival held in connec- \, 

 lion with the Illinois Tarm Sports Festival. 

 They came to see their own talent express the 

 type of fun-makinj; entertainment which is 

 found in many rural communities in the State 

 of Illinois and to witness the NX'I.S show which 

 reflects the type of entertainment en|oye^i by 

 thousands of rural people. 



Two hundred and fifteen individuals, repre- 

 senting; 2i groups in IJ counties of Illinois, 

 took part in the preliminaries and finals of 

 this outstanding feature of the Farm Sports 

 Festival. Chanipaipn County alone sent in six 

 groups; Livingston County sent four; I.aSalle. 

 DeK.ilb. and far-otf Monroe- County each sent 

 two. Novelty bands avcr.iged four in num- 

 ber, square dances nine, and most folk dance 

 groups had sixteen people taking part. 



just glance at these people as they come to 

 the st.ige door of the Auditorium during the 

 preliminaries, ^'ou are impressed with the 

 number of young people in these groups — 

 young people who are exuberant, happy, full 

 of anticipation, but re.uly to take defeat with 

 a smile. 



The judges rated the groups appearing m 

 the preliminaries in two classifications -- A 

 and B. The A classification .groups performed 

 in the evening. 



The desire to participate in the evening per- 

 formance caused many of them to show anxi- 

 ous, serious faces when in the wings, but 

 when they appeared on the stage they were all 

 smiles, happy, and intense Monroe County 

 wanted to come on first since they had their 

 Softball game to play. The girls of Monroe 

 (.oiintv won th.it softball game, becoming 

 champions. Their anxiety only added to. 

 rather than detracted from, the /est with which 

 they entered their folk dance and novelty 

 hand features. 



LOGAN COUNTY TRIO 



"They Rated A', Played Before 25,000." 



LIVINGSTON COUNTY'S APPLE KNOCKERS 

 They knock knocked and the judges gave 'em the blue ribbon. 



The no\eltv bands were, to s;iy the least, 

 novel. Music making instruments fashioned 

 out of pitchforks, washboards, and funnel and 

 hose, with costumes which would draw the 

 envy of circus clowns, were all a part of the 

 novelu- bands, and \et thev produced good 

 music. The Kentucky Apple Knockers and 

 the Melody Mixers, both from Livingston 

 County, the Sunshine Hovs from Logan Coun- 

 ty, and the Kentucky Hayseeds from Cham- 

 pai.gn County were gi\en the A rating and 

 appeared in the evening. The Hayseeds par- 

 ticularly typified the group yi'u might find 

 in open countrv and rural communities playing 

 for dances all night. The novelty bands were 

 good in the prelimin.iries. but the four A 

 groups performing in the evening were knock- 

 outs. They made the audience roar. The 

 Kentucky Appleknockers from Livingston 

 founty gained the most votes from the judges, 

 hut the audience voted them all winners. 



A whirlwind from the country came in with 

 the square dancers. The LnSalle County group, 

 in full costume, with Vi'ilbert Anderson call- 

 ing, set a p'.ce that was hanl to match. But 

 .iniination and gaietv characterized all square 

 dances. The Vermillion County group was so 

 .inimateil that we were afraid tlie caller, Walter 

 I'ate. who also danced, would drop from sheer 

 exhaustion before his five minutes were up, 

 riRii the ^LlCon (aiunty group with Tom 

 InKrick as caller, under the direction of Eve- 

 rett Brown, executed a beautiful and precise 

 dance in country costumes and gave the audi- 

 ence a chance to breathe again. These three, 

 with the ( hampaign Countv scpiarc dance 

 made up of voung people under the direction 

 of Al Slooie. Wire placed in the A group. 

 Thcv had haul competition fiom The Whirl- 

 ing Light. Charles Taylor's square dance group 

 from LaSalle County, and other groups. 



Going into the finals before these 25,000 

 people, these four A square dance groups dis- 

 played super-animation. The LaSalle County 

 group, with Its beautiful costumes which for 



the ladies were old-fashioned hoop style skirts 

 and anklets and appropriate costumes for the 

 men, won the hearts of the audience, Wilbert 

 Anderson, caller, and Webster M, Setchell, 

 chairman of the group, can be proud of their 

 square dancers, and we hope they are called 

 on for entertainment in communities in LaSalle 

 County repeatedly. 



The outstanding individual square dance 

 performance, however, was that of the lady in 

 the Vermilion group in the black fullskirteii 

 dress, whose wliirling animation caught and 

 held the attention and admiration of the 

 audience. What was her name? Ask >X'altet 

 Pate, the caller, or M, E, Richards, the chair- 

 man. The Vermilion County group was m.ide 

 up of man and wife for each of the four 

 couples. 



Then came the folk dances, all in costumes, 

 closely copied from the European type, and all 

 done to the music of old country folk dance 

 tunes. Here especially, young people of the 

 .iges of 16 to ?0 prevailed. Two of the 

 .uroups chose the old English folk dance. 

 Waves of Tory, with its over and under, back 

 and forward, twisting and turning, in beauti- 

 ful precision with the cadence of the music, 

 Tazewell County used the old Polish folk 

 dance. Cshebogar. as did one or two of the B 

 Group, But Ford County, with Delmar Gur- 

 ley in charge, using its own adaptation of an 

 I^nglish folk dance, added animation to pre- 

 cision and highly colored costumes, and carried 

 away the honors of the evening performance. 



The folk dances, with their costumes and 

 their rhythmic presentations, were the most 

 picturesque, artful, and beautiful of the entire 

 evening's performance. Does this portend the 

 return to an expressive art eng.iged in by rural 

 communities and groups in the open country 



especially young peoples groups,^ 



If 



true, it drives home the belief that true art 

 often comes from and is imbedded deeply in 

 .he rural community. 



(Continued on pa^e 29) 



22 



I. A. A. RECORD 



OCT( 



