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History &
Previous Contest
Results
2008 - Our
2008 show as good as
all the rest.
The price of fuel
was out of sight
this year at $4.89
per gallon for
gasoline and $5.14
for diesel.
The crowd was great
despite the high
cost of traveling.
Les Gilliam was one
of our featured
entertainers and a
crowd favorite as
usual. We also
had Call Of The West
from Oklahoma with
us for the first
time and Milton
Wooldridge from
Alabama as well.
We had exciting
contests as always
and this year's band
scramble winner were
"A Nickels Worth"
which included David
Lewis Beck of Kansas
City, Eldon
Hardekopf of
Denison, IA, Jim
Barnes of Orleans,
NE Earl Binns of
Winterset, IA an
Rosa Lee Hamilton of
Thedford, NE.
This year's
songwriter winner
was Terry Juhl of
Hampton, IA who
wrote a terrific
song using the
phrase, "Please
Don't Answer".
Our dance contest
winners Dean Martin
& Wendy Olsen of
Lexington, NE and
we'll be looking
forward to having
these winners with
us next year to
judge our 2009
contests.
T-Shirt colors were
navy, red, black,
and of course
purple.
2007
-
Our
10th Annual show was
an enormous
celebration which
reunited many
musicians and fans.
We had a record
crowd again with 242
campers and tents
joining in for a fun
filled weekend.
Stonewall Jackson
performed on our
Thursday Night Grand
Old Opry Showcase to
a near capacity
enthusiastic crowd.
Other featured
entertainers new
this year included,
Buddy & Tina Wright
Family of Lubbock,
TX, Lorene Clark
with Laurentian
Divide of Minnesota,
Great White Possum
String Company from
the Kansas City
area, Bobby Awe and
KWMT's Dale Eichor
of Fort Dodge, IA,
and Fiddlin' Jake
Simpson of
Wyandotte, OK.
Many other fan
favorites
entertained the
record crowd. The
weather was nice.
A severe storm
interrupted the Main
Stage show for a few
hours as the wind
blew so hard from
the North it soaked
all the sound
equipment on the
Main Stage.
We've been through
that before, haven't
we? The other
stages continued and
after a couple hours
our new sound man
was able to get the
show back up and
running again.
This was the first
year for our good
friends Harry Derr
and his partner
Shirley working
sound for us.
They did a terrific
job and we're proud
they'll be joining
us again next year.
Our 2007 contest
winners for our
special 10th
Anniversary were -
Band Scramble -
"Platte River Rats"
including Guy
Johnson of
Riverdale, NE,
Virgil Reichmuth of
Lindsay, NE,
Ernie Ruth of
Bartlett, IA, Mike O'Neel of Ord, NE
and Jay Engle of
Grand Island, NE.
The songwriter's
contest was won by
Pamela Ashby of
Omaha, NE. She
wrote a terrific
song using the 2007
phrase, "Not Enough
Time". I was
hoping our youngest
ever contestant
would win.
Michael Levi, only
12 years old, wrote
a cute and age
appropriate song
that was fantastic.
The competition was
tight as he didn't
even place in the
Top 3. Keep an
eye out for this
young man and ask
him to sing "Not
Enough Time" for
you. The Dance
Contest winners were
James & Sandy Psota
of Ord, NE and we'll
see them again next
year to judge 2008's
Dance Contest.
The t-shirts sold
out for the first
time in the 10 year
history of the show.
A variety of colors
were available this
year including
purple, maroon, and
navy.
2006 - Our 9th
Annual show saw
another record
number of campers
and folks attending
the best Wahoo
Country Music Show
yet. Leona
Williams was our
Grand Old Opry
entertainer on
Thursday night which
got the weekend
started off with
plenty more great
country music to
follow. Other
special guests
during the weekend
included Terry Smith
of Nashville, TN and
Les Gilliam of Ponca
City, OK, both of
these gentlemen put
on great shows.
The weather was
warm, but not hot
and with a few new
camping spaced added
this year, we had
mostly good luck
with finding room
for the extra
campers that
attended. We
honored the memory
of Buck Owens this
year and we began
our stepping stone
memorial garden with
stones for Sharon's
dad, Jerome Harre,
and other friends of
the Wahoo Country
Music Show
including, Lola
Taft, Rita Maloney,
& Marion Meyer.
For More information
on the stepping
stone memorial
garden and how you
can contribute,
click here.
The 2006 contest
winners included,
the Band Scrambles'
"Bees In A Bonnet"
featuring Jerry
Hogan of
Fayetteville, AR;
Rod Jensen of
Parker, CO; Galen
Meriwether of
Edwardsville, KS;
Bill Langford of
Hastings, NE;
Shirley Schacht of
Aurora, NE; and
Sandy Brodersen of
Omaha, NE. The
Songwriter's Contest
first place winner
was Garry
Bichelmeyer of
Tonganoxie, KS
writing a great song
from this year's
phrase, "Mud In My
Camper", and the
dance contest
winners were Smokey
Mast of South Sioux
City, NE and Lila
Henke of Akron, IA.
What a great group
of competitors we
had in 2006 in all
the contests!
T-Shirt colors this
year included,
purple, green,
maroon, & pink,
2005 - A last minute announcement came that our scheduled Grand Old Opry entertainer, Leona Williams, would not be able to attend due to a death in her family. How fortunate could we be that she was able to send the Great Legend, Jean Shepard, to put on a wonderful show for us, and that she did.
The weather was hot throughout the entire week with temperatures over 100 degrees. This always causes problems with the power from the high demand of
power for air conditioning,
but despite all that the shows were excellent and well attended with yet another increase in numbers, both in campers and festival goers.
Our 2005 contest winners were
- Band Scramble - "Thorns and Roses" including Harriette Andersen, Underwood, IA; Jay Engle, Grand Island, NE; David Lewis Beck of Blue Rapids, KS; Sandy Broderson of Omaha, NE, and Francis Hahn of Mapleton, IA. The songwriter's phase was Winter Chill and Pamela Ashby of Omaha, NE was this year's winner. The Dance contest has some great competitors and the 2005 winners were Louie & Lucille Heldenbrand of Linden, IA.
T-shirt colors were purple, green, pink, maroon, and lavendar.
2004 - The we ather was cool but
the Opening Night Showcase featuring Claude Gray & Pretty Miss Norma Jean made it a great night to be out. What a thrill it was to have two great Grand Old Opry stars on our stage to start the 7th Annual Show. Due to the cool temperatures, we moved the World Famous Mark & Dave show into the 4-H building later that same night so they could play where it was a little warmer. This was some fantastic music put on by lots of great entertainers including Mark Jenkins, Dave Elifrits, Dwayne Reed and Jay Kelly along with several other guest performers.
 This year we were lucky once again to have the largest number of participating musicians of any Nebraska festival. It seemed that this year more than ever there were some terrific jam sessions around every corner and the weather was perfect for the entire weekend. I'm sure 2005 will bring even more musicians because everyone that attended in 2004 said they had lots and lots of fun.
Our 2004 contest winners for the Band Scramble were, "Work in Progress" including Dustin Hunt of Kansas City, MO, Jerry Porter of Indianola, NE, Sue Bret of Omaha, NE, Sandy Broderson of Omaha, NE, Cory Jeter of Harlan, Ia, and Juanita Andrews of Council Bluffs, IA. Francis Hahn of Mapleton, IA was our Songwriting Contest winner writing a song with the phrase "Old Country Song". Our first place dance contestants went to a well deserved Larry & Mary Lou Beeson of Wisner, NE. We're looking forward to having all these great contestants back again for our 2005 contests, some as judges! This year's t-shirt colors were Red, White & Purple!
2003 -  Great weather brought a record crowd to the 6th Annual show. Star of the Grand Old Opry, Claude Gray, performed a terrific show in the 4-H Building to a standing room only crowd to kick things off on Thursday night. This was the first appearance by such a celebrity.  The rest of the weekend featured some amazing entertainers from coast to coast and beyond. Charley Groth came all the way from Florida (he'll be back in 2004). This year marks our first of hopefully many international entertainers, the great fiddle player, George Kralik from the Czech Republic made a surprise visit and joined Bob & Sheila Everhart on stage to fiddle a couple tunes for us. What a treat. We were so fortunate to have so many great talents in 2003 we can't wait to see what 2004 will bring.
Coset te Hemen won the songwriter's contest. The phrase was "Rough Around The Edges". Bill Welch and Pat Caporale won the dance contest. We'll have these contest winners back to judge the 2004 contests.
The band scramble was again a real popular event for the audience and the contestants. The group named "Road Toad" took home first place. The guys in this group were all very talented, so putting together four songs wasn't much of a challenge for them.  The group included Jerry Neeman of Ord, NE, Wayne Wooten of Waverly, NE, Ron Flanagan of Bennet, NE, Mark Jenkins of Washta, IA and David Lewis Beck of Blue Rapids, KS. Two years in a row for Wayne Wooten to be in the winners circle. How does he do it?
A new activity this year was a sidewalk sale downtown on Thursday and Friday. The O'Brien Family and Dustin Hunt performed Thursday afternoon during the sales. T-Shirt colors were purple and ash.
2002 – We had a great increase in attendance and campers this year. The weather was hot and we had electricity capacity issues due to large demand with everyone trying to keep cool.
 Rod
Jensen of Parker,
CO, won the
songwriter’s
contest. The phrase
was Just One More
Night Away From You
Fern and Darrell
Sorenson of Onawa,
IA, won the dance
contest. 
The Closet
Country Band won the
band scramble with a
great group of
entertainers. They
were Pam Flanagan of
Bennet, NE, Janice
Wolbrecht of
Maryville MO, Wayne
Wooten of Waverly,
NE, Bobby Pugh Jr.
of Lincoln, NE and
Virgil Remmers of
Wymore, NE.
I seem to recall
a couple of them
good old boys were
dressed like women,
weren’t they?
T-shirt colors were
dusty blue, green
and purple.
2001 – Due to the unexpected death in January of Jerome E. Harre, (Sharon’s Dad), this was an emotional and difficult year for both family and friends. The show was dedicated to his memory and a fund was created for the American Heart Association in his honor.
The show must go on and everyone had a great time. Cosette Hemen of Yankton, SD won the first ever songwriter’s contest. The phrase that everyone had to use was Dancing In My Heart. Vanessa Kenaston of Millboro, SD and Bobbi Jo Lytle of Springview, NE won the dance contest. 
The band scramble winner, The Rose and 4 Thornes, included Gerry Bichelmeyer of Tonganoxie, KS, Skip Muhm of Ames, NE, Danny McElroy of Ashland, NE, Forrest Rabel of Warrensburg, MO and Wanda Jones of Tekamah, NE. T-shirt colors were yellow and purple.
2000 – A great crowd turned out to watch Dick and Vonna Holdren of Filley, NE win the first ever dance contest.
The Misfits won the band scramble. Bill Craven played the trumpet without a trumpet. There were also lots of good singers in the winning group and they put on quite a show. The group was Bill Craven of Taylor, NE, Arella Hanvold of Branson, MO, Jerry Neeman of Ord, NE, Sandi Reed of Malcolm, NE, and Virgil Remmers of Cortland, NE. 
The late Sunday afternoon show was interrupted by a violent thunderstorm and tornado warning as a funnel cloud developed right over the fairgrounds and was later spotted over the Mead Cattle Company, about five miles East of the fairgrounds.  We managed to give the awards out in the 4-H building after making sure everyone was safe and the danger was over. Then we moved some campers to higher ground due to over 6 inches of rain upstream. We heard a lot of stories later about people that tried to drive home in that storm. People sought shelter under the main stage as we stuffed instruments, cases and supplies right along with them without even knowing there were people under there. We are so thankful that no one was injured and everyone got home safely. I know the people who were there will never forget it and hope it never happens again. T-shirt colors were purple and tan.
1999 – This was the year that we had an alien invasion. Sue and Ernie Ruth and friends won the Jam Site Contest for the second year in a row. The alien invasion carried over into the comedy skit that Sue & Ernie did. We still see alien stickers on guitar straps from the invasion. Ernie helped his group win the band scramble with the Wanna Bees. Remember?  Sweet Bee, Honey Bee? I can’t remember them all, but the group consisted of Harriette Andersen of Underwood, IA, Bill Eagle of Carson, IA, Joyce Fratt of Livingston, TX, Lee Muller of Americus, KS, Jim Reed of Malcolm, NE and Ernie Ruth of Bartlett IA. T-Shirt colors were plum and coral.
1998 – Lake Ernie (Sue and Ernie Ruth of Bartlett, IA) won the Jam Site Contest (no banjos allowed) thanks to wet and cold weather and a puddle in their campsite. The main stage closed early due to cold temperatures, but Ernie warmed us up when he lit a fire during the band scramble. 
Speaking of the band scramble, this was the year that Sweet & Low won the band scramble with their Viagra song. Thanks, Sandi Reed of Malcolm NE, Rita Maloney of Silver City, IA, Jim Reed of Malcolm, NE, Sue Ruth of Bartlett, IA and Mary Schutz of Streetman, TX for making a memory we still hear people talking about. T-Shirt colors were purple and white.
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