|
Friday, 26 March 2010 16:33 |
HUGO — The Early Bird Bluegrass Festival kicks off today beginning at noon at the Agriplex, Fifth and Rena Street in Hugo.
The annual festival hosts eight bands this year and is emceed by Bill Grant, who brought the original bluegrass festival to this area in the late 1960s.
Stacie Pace, with the backing of the Hugo Chamber of Commerce, Little Dixie Community Action Agency and local donations, now organizes the event each year. This year, she has brought talent from Oklahoma and nearby Texas and all across the United States.
The lineup for Friday includes:
• High Strung Band at noon and 6 p.m.
• The Dixie Bee-Liners at 1 and 7 p.m.
• The Saltgrass Band at 2 and 8 p.m.
• The Louisiana Grass at 3 and 9 p.m.
Saturday’s lineup:
• The Batten Family at noon and 6 p.m.
• The Welch Mountain Boys / Bill Grant at 1 and 7 p.m.
• Danny Paisley and The Southern Grass at 2 and 8 p.m.
• Gold Wing Express at 3 and 9 p.m.
|
|
Thursday, 18 March 2010 18:18 |
SWINK — “Plasticulture and your garden,” a free gardening workshop, will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 20 a Milandred Farm in Swink. The farm is located from the intersection of Highway 70 and Road 4420, three miles north on the east side of the road.
The workshop will show how plasticulture works to increase yields, reduce weeds and water usage and procure healthier plants.
For more information call 580.326.3359. |
|
|
Friday, 19 March 2010 18:24 |
|
By Amber Hanneken
Staff Writer When Hugo’s Stacie Pace takes the stage, Patsy Cline comes alive.
It all began about five years ago when Pace was asked to perform at a senior citizens’ Valentine’s banquet in Clayton. Mark McIntosh, a former Pushmataha County commissioner who had seen her perform, asked if she would do an all-Patsy Cline set. After her performance, a woman told Pace she had missed her calling and that she was meant to play Cline.
She returned home and did some research. Longtime Hugo Chamber of Commerce tourism supporter Walter White was instrumental in getting her started with Pasty Cline performances, she said.
“It’s funny if I just sing I sound like Patsy without even trying,” Pace said. “And that is a great compliment that someone thinks that. It’s kind of like I was born into the wrong era for the music.”
Besides having the voice, Pace wanted the look. She sought out a seamstress and found DeeDee Atwood of Cloudy, who normally designs clothing for dogs. Atwood made a set of cowgirl outfits that Pace pairs with white boots and a brunette wig for her shows. She hopes to eventually incorporate some of the more “modern” fashions Cline wore into her performance.
She has performed as Cline before a crowd of about 7,000 at the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association meeting the last four years and in Choctaw County she’s performed before big crowds at the Choctaw Electric annual meeting. She said she gets calls from all over, including Nashville, just to see her perform as Cline.
Steve McKinley, director of operations of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, wrote in a recent letter to Pace, “We always receive positive comments on your performance and encouragement to keep you coming back.”
Pace says she most enjoys singing “Sweet Dreams” because of the long notes. She also enjoys “Walking After Midnight” because she makes audience members dance and contribute and the crowd always enjoys “Crazy.”
Pace has been singing and dancing since she was young, beginning at church where her father was the pastor. She graduated with a degree in drama and chorale from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, after which she toured Texas and Oklahoma with a band, performing Top 40 country western charts.
Following her marriage to husband, Scott, Pace settled down back in Hugo and began performing in local venues, quickly becoming known as a Patsy Cline impersonator.
“It’s so rewarding because it touches people’s lives and they just seem to remember something, what they were doing, or someone. I even have kids as young as 8 years old who are huge fans and their mom says they go and buy all the (Patsy Cline) CDs. Wherever they go, if they see a Patsy CD, they buy it.” Read the full story, subscribe to the online edition: http://www.hugonews.com/transitionHDN.html |
|
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 21:46 |
|
By Amber Hanneken
Staff Writer
HUGO — The mustang, the spirit of the “Wild West,” holds a strong position besides man in American history. From now until Wednesday at the Todd Whatley-Lige Hammock Rodeo Arena in Hugo, Choctaw County residents have a chance to give these legendary wild horses a home.
The adoption event began in southeastern Oklahoma last week in McAlester. Adoptions opened Monday in Hugo and continue today until 8 p.m. Wednesday is the last day to purchase a horse at the Hugo arena from 8 a.m. to noon. If you miss your chance in Hugo, the horses will be at the Bryan County Fairgrounds in Durant from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
Wild horses are managed by the Bureau of Land Management and are defined as “unbranded, unclaimed and free-roaming horses found on western public rangelands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.” When a herd becomes over populated the bureau offers excess animals for adoption. Burros, or small wild donkeys, are also managed by the bureau in the same manner but none were available for adoption at the Hugo sale.
The horses are of no particular breed and typically stand between 13 and 15 hands high and weigh 700 to 1,000 pounds. They come from as far away as Oregon and Nevada and as near as Kansas. The animals range in color including sorrel, chestnut, black, gray, bay, dun, buckskin, brown, pinto and red roan. All the horses for adoption in Hugo — yearlings through age 4 — are untrained and cost $125 to adopt. There is a $500 incentive to those wishing to adopt a 4-year-old horse. All adopters of older horses will receive a $500 care-and-feeding allowance, which is paid in full after one year of ownership. Read the full story, subscribe to the online edition: http://www.hugonews.com/transitionHDN.html |
|
