Concert For The Cause:
Featuring Sean Story and Alex Cartwright
Avenue A Park
Hutchinson, KS
© Lydia Lowe 2013
It was a party in the park this past Saturday night. If you missed it, you missed a lot. The concert started a half hour early, at 7:00 p.m. when cKenzi, local Hutch native and past contestant on America’s Got Talent, showed up unexpectedly to open the show. She sang the song she wrote that got her on to the show and it showcased her talent perfectly. In between songs she told the crowd about how her life had changed since she had been on America’s Got Talent.
Then it was time for Sean Story to take the stage. The crowd had gradually grown by this time to double the size of last week’s crowd. Sean sang a lot of songs that the crowd already knew and about half way through his set, Morgan Wilk showed up to sing a couple of duets with him. The crowd was familiar with the duets this duo sang and seemed to enjoy this surprise in the lineup. Sean’s music drew the crowd in and pulled everyone in together as a group.
Meanwhile, the smell of hamburgers and hotdogs permeated the air, small groups broke off here and there to talk, people saw friends and family as they wandered about enjoying the show. Mel Hambleton showed up with free ice cream, again, this week. The 4H Club was the non-profit featured for Saturday and they made over $130 through food and drink sales, as well as donations just because folks appreciated their organization. Concert For The Cause t-shirts were on sale for the first time. At one point, Marcie Penner, author and Kansas explorer, showed up driving her ERV (Explorer Research Voyage) vehicle.
Then it was time for Alex Cartwright to take the stage. She brought a member of her new band with her, a violin player who was amazing. Alex does a great job singing and playing her guitar, but the violin added another dimension to her show. I cannot wait to see her in concert with her full band. Alex had a lot of new material and it did not disappoint. I especially enjoyed the lullaby that she wrote for her then boyfriend who is now her husband. It had the soft sounds of a lullaby with the twist of a love song. By now, the crowd in the park had tripled.
If you miss a week, you miss a lot. Join the party in the park next week when Concert For The Cause returns with Soapbox Trubadores and Ryan Coon who will be playing their makeup concert. The featured non-profit will be The Salvation Army.
