For the past couple of years since I’ve been listening to the Fairbury radio station I’ve heard about the Homestead Pickers performing at Mayberry’s in Washington, KS. With the weather being so nice lately I thought a road trip might be fun so I bought tickets and we headed down to Washington last Friday. For $50 you got a buffet and the show, that didn’t sound too bad.
Since we try to save a few miles on our vehicles, we made this a dual purpose trip by stopping at our financial advisor’s office in Beatrice first. He does a semi-annual review of our retirement outlook with us at our request. We do spend some of that time just visiting but even at that we were out of there by 3:00 and we didn’t have to be in Washington until 6:00. Now what do we do!
Well, we thought it would be nice to have a couple of cold beverages so we drove down 6th Street to the Runza to get a Dr. Pepper and an Arnold Palmer. Since we were headed north and wanted to make a left turn, we had to wait for the south bound traffic to clear. Mind you, we are not in a turning lane, so there is a semi and a few cars behinds us. Just as the south traffic passes so we can make a quick turn Ken notices that the drive thru lane is pretty full and he turns to me and asks if I want to go inside or go to the drive up. Feeling the pressure from behind because I hate to keep people waiting I told him we should just go inside. At that point his turn into the drive was very slow and deliberate and that apparently didn’t sit well with the semi driver because he honked at us. Ken pulled into the first available parking space with me laughing. I told him drives like an ‘old man’. I said it must be because he doesn’t do much city driving any more except a little bit through Bellevue when he goes to babysit Emma. He just gave me one of his melt-my-heart grins that says “maybe so, but I’m doing the very best I can.” Of course, since then I’ve heard a number of referrals to him being an ‘old man’. The Steele’s never let it drop!
Anyway, now we have our drinks and Ken suggests that we stop at River Side park there in Beatrice. The weather is exceptional for this time of year so we go park and walk along by the Big Blue river. We followed the concrete trail until we reached the end, which wasn’t very far and then just headed off across the grass to a park bench. We just sat there for a while discussing this and that and the information from the financial advisor. Just a perfect afternoon.
After a bit we decided it was time to head to Washington. One thing I’ve learned from the radio ads for this event is that it is hosted at Mayberry’s which is owned by Brad Portenier and his wife Donna. They also own, Bradford Built (they make flatbeds for pickups), Miss Donna’s Dollhouse (a women’s clothing store), Smokey Hill Boots, and they more recently opened The Kansas Territorial Brewing Co. They seem to be very down-to-earth people trying to help revitalize their hometown and promote living in the Midwest. It appears when a building goes empty in Washington, he and his wife think of a use for it. Listening to Brad talk on the radio I like his sense of humor. I read this from their website talking about one of his new beers: So far, dozens of samplings have elicited mostly rave reviews, though there have been some exceptions, Portenier said. “One Coors Light fan sampled the stout, ended up drinking four of them and announcing it good,” he said. “Others say it’s too much for them. And that’s okay. If everybody liked vanilla, there wouldn’t be any chocolate.” Might be a new place to take Carie and Steve on their next visit to Nebraska. Here’s the link to their brewery and it tells a little about their history. http://www.kansasterritorybrewingco.com/news–events.htm
Little did we know, that most people in Washington are really very friendly. When we first hit town we thought it would be a good idea to get some gas rather than wait until afterward, it might be pretty late by then. The price of gas is much cheaper in Kansas than in Nebraska. We missed our turn off for the Casey’s and ended up driving around the block. Along the way there was a group of people sitting at a picnic table in front of a house. They all took time to wave. Around the next corner as we were going, a boy about 9 or 10 was riding his bicycle and waved at us.
We filled up with gas at the Casey’s and then headed downtown. Since we were still a little early we went into Smokey Hill Boots to check it out. They had quite a few boots and some cute little outfits that would look good on Emma when she gets a little bit older. Little cowboy and cowgirl boots too!
We headed to Mayberry’s for the hoe-down. The inside of the building is divided into two parts. The side where the show was had two long tables coming out from the stage area and then more toward the back were a couple of round tables and then the buffet area. There was a balcony with tables and an open staircase on each side, a bar along one wall and a player piano on the opposite wall.
We sat down at one of the round tables toward the back and we weren’t there long before an older guy asked if he could sit with us. Sure . . . we would enjoy the company and so he sat down next to Ken. This guy’s name was Louis and funny guy to talk with. Louis mentioned more than a few times that he enjoyed the Pickers’ music but he didn’t much care for their humor, and he ended almost every comment with “but that’s just my opinion.” I told Ken from the side Louis looked a little bit like Coach Tom Osborn to me. Ken said maybe a little. Here’s a side view of Louis.
It wasn’t long before another old guy, who looked to be older than Louis, asked if he could sit with us. This was Darrell Portenier, father of the owner. Then another guy that was kind of heavyset with very poor eyesight also sat with us. He worked for Bradford Built and I think he was somehow related to Brad as well. (He’s sitting in front of Louis.)
We were lucky, since Darrell was sitting with us we got to be the first ones through the buffet and the food was terrific, fried chicken, barbeque pork, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy and later German chocolate cake, some kind of cherry dessert and some very chocolatey little bundt cakes. Apparently this was all cooked by Lisa, Darrell’s daughter. Darrell was very proud of her and he pointed her out to me a couple of times when we were eating. Then just as we sat down to eat, two younger guys came and sat with us. Darrell was their Grandpa and they asked if they could sit in the two empty seats.
One of the boys was named Ethan and the other one didn’t give his name, he was too busy chowing down on the food. Oh my gosh, we got to hear some wonderful family stories about baseball when Darrell used to coach, hunting and fishing. Ethan, a very good looking guy who is about 21, I think, does fencing for a living, he was telling us that he saw a bobcat that day. I asked if he had ever seen a mountain lion. He said yes from a distance but he said “ask Grandpa if he’s seen one”. A while back Darrell had one come within 5 or 10 feet of him and it was a black cat. You could tell both boys thought their Grandpa was very special but Ethan just adored Darrell. Darrell and his wife, who passed away a couple of years ago, had eight children. He is 83 years old and now has 73 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Ethan was so polite and never missed a chance to bring his Grandpa into the conversation.
Here is Darrell, Ethan and he has one of his little cousins on his lap, and then Ethan’s younger brother who finally got is fill of the buffet.
When most of us had finished eating, Lisa (the cook) and also Ethan’s mom, came over to ask how the food was and to check on Darrell. She asked the younger boy if the chicken was okay and even though he was still eating he gave her an ornery look and with a shake of his head said no. Then he broke out into a big smile and she laughed. Ethan had told us that his Mom was a good singer so I asked her about it. She just smiled and said it was Ethan who could sing. That he tried out for the Voice and made it through the first round. Ethan said he was too nervous when it came to the second round so he didn’t make it through.
I told Ken before the music ever started that I’d already had a great time with all of these folks. And when the music started playing Darrell was tapping his toes, rapping his hands on the table and doing a little singing himself. It was a great time thanks to all these friendly people!!!
When we were getting ready to leave we told Darrell we might be back again next year when the Picker’s come to Washington and maybe we’d see him then.
This got me to thinking about small towns and how each one has it’s own personality. Years ago when Ken, Aaron and I stopped at Aunt Bea’s café in Tyron for lunch with our shorts and tank tops on, everyone looked at us like we were from outer space. One women told her husband to turn around and quit staring at us. Such a difference.