MLAG

Dear Friends of MLAG,

 

It’s been a week since we wrapped up the 31st Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering, and our second time at the Shippensburg University facilities. After learning from our first experience there in 2022, and knowing more about what to expect, your MLAG Board felt much more relaxed and on top of things, and I think that feeling permeated the Gathering. More than ever, we feel that we made the right move to the right venue.

 

Starting with lots of folks who arrived on Monday, our attendees began to make new friends and bond with old ones, hang out on the beautiful campus grounds, and of course play music! Our three added-value pre-gathering classes by Tina Louise Barr (beginner), Kathy Wieland (songwriting), and Bryan Bowers (master class), gave many of them an intense nine-hour experience, and these classes were all well received. By Wednesday, our other featured performers, George McCoy, Will Smith, and the Goodhues Band, were all assembled and ready to share their knowledge and talents in the “official Gathering” from then until

Sunday.

 

Tuesday, as the pre-gathering classes were being taught, our staging and hall accoutrements were set up (including new sound-improving curtains in the back); our sound engineer, Bill Belz, worked with the amazing Shippensburg staff to get everything set up in the MPR (multipurpose room) so that the sound quality of our performances would be tip-top; and our virtual engineer Steve Pendlebury worked hard to get the video and audio equipment going so that our virtual attendees would have the best experience possible. This also gives us the video record of the Gathering. We feel extremely lucky to have professionals like Steve and Bill working with the Gathering!

 

One of the greatest things about this year’s Gathering was the fact that we welcomed around 24 new attendees, and many of them shared their talents on Open Stage and the Gospel Hour. There were some wonderful new voices heard this year, and many of them said they’d be back! Many of them took the beginners’ pre-gathering class and/or attended Boot Camp on Wednesday afternoon, then went on to participate in many of the almost 30 workshops that were taught by our featured performers and wonderful workshop leaders.

 

Every one of our five concerts, the Harvey Wagner Cohen-Grappel Endowment interview, and the 31 st MLAG Championship provided outstanding entertainment for both in-person and virtual attendees. Congratulations to Harvey on his recording release, and to our contest winners Les Gustafson-Zook (1st ), Doug Pratt (2nd ), and Bay Allen (3rd ). Next year’s Recording Endowment winner is Barbara Dace, and we look forward to hearing her efforts! You can enjoy listening to ALL 13 fine contestants by ordering this year’s Contest CD at mlag.org/shop 

 

Accompanying events during the week were the Silent Auction (which helps keep our festival going), the Bazaar Autoharp, the popular Autoharp Toss, and guided jams along with the nighttime jamming inside and outside Seavers Dorm. Virtual attendees took advantage of an afternoon jam with the Goodhues and in-person folks, and also 4 social hours where they could catch up with each other and some board members.

 

You can tell that there was much more going on than I can relate here! Thanks to the attendees, the volunteers, and our great board for making the 2023 Gathering successful. We learn every year how much better we can strive to be, and we plan to do just that in 2024 with our featured performers – Karen Mueller, Tom Schroeder, Allison Guinn, Les Gustafson-Zook, Michael Poole, and Lindsay Haisley & Cheryl Dehut!

 

Big MLAG Hugs,

Kathie Hollandsworth, Director