Jamboree draws older crowd

STAFF WRITER

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Attendees of the fourth annual Floyd Lions Club Harvest Jamboree, both returning and attending for the first time, said they came for classic country music and camaraderie.

The event, held at the Yam Theatre, brought Lance and Tina Hill of Portales out for the first time.

According to Lance Hill, the aspects that compelled him to attend include “the music, the enjoyment, the community.”

Having attended the Floyd Lions Club Jamboree that takes place in March, the two agreed that this event was much more intimate.

Laveta Patterson, who has attended the March jamboree for 50 years, said she noticed that attendance at both events has reduced.

“It’s just regular old country music, and I think a lot of the kids and everything, they’re liking the more upbeat. I think it’s mainly for all of us that are older, that appreciate those good old country songs,” she said.

Patterson said that the Harvest Jamboree gives those that don’t like traveling “all the way to Floyd on the dark and the narrow roads” a chance to enjoy live country music.

Joe Essary, a member of the Floyd Lions Club, who has been attending and sometimes performing in the March jamboree since 1964, said that he’s noticed a desire in the new generation of local country music fans to hear more upbeat songs.

“A lot of the older people like the old songs. Now that it’s getting to a new generation, I’ve asked them questions. They say, ‘a lot of it’s sad. You don’t play any fast,’” Essary said, adding that while it has changed in that sense, in many ways it has stayed the same. “I don’t know how to explain it, I really don’t.”

Zoe Morrison, 19, one such member of the “new generation,” has sang in several jamborees in the past, and said although many band members are absent in the fall, it is still an enjoyable event.

“Some of the band is gone, because it’s during the school year. It’s still a good show, even though there’s not a lot of band people,” Morrison said, adding that she enjoys any opportunity to sing in front of a crowd.

“I like to get on stage, because I don’t really get nervous, and I just like to have a good song,” she said.