2015 NWA Convention Flyer. Click on image for printable full-sized PDF version.
Our newsletter is published earlier than the usual monthly reminder to give all of the NW Arkansas Sacred Harp Singing Convention on May 2, 2015 in the Parish Hall of St. John's Episcopal Church in Harrison AR. The church is located at 707 W. Central Avenue and directions are found in the attached flyer. This special spring event starts at 9:30 A.M. and continues until 3:00 P.M. with a break at noon for a pot luck lunch. Singing will be from The Sacred Harp (Denson book) and The Missouri Harmony. Loaner books will be available. The Harrison singing traditionally has been well attended by singers from Missouri, Oklahoma, sometimes from Texas and from all over Arkansas. As usual, visitors, children and new singers are always welcome.
The pot luck lunch is always a special treat and St. John's Parish Hall has a well equipped kitchen with refrigerators, microwaves, etc. to help keep things cold or warm dishes to serving temperature if needed. Singers are invited to bring their favorite meat dishes, casseroles, salads and desserts. Others may wish to bring a cooler and soft drinks. At the moment, we're well supplied with cups, dishes, plastic ware, napkins, thanks to Gail Cowart. Our host, Dan Brittain, usually has the coffee pot perking by arrival time. Donuts to go with the coffee or fruit plates for the morning arrivals or breaks usually travel well in a cooler.
As to motels and hotels, I never did find one website that had all the information about accommodations in one spot. Things like name, location, map, phone number, rates and ratings that were the staple of paper AAA travel guides apparently don't always translate easily into web pages. Harrison's Convention and Visitors Bureau has the most comprehensive descriptions I found on the web (but no maps or rates). The best map of where the motels are actually located is found on HotelGuides.com. I ended up checking Trivago for distance to the downtown area, rates and ratings. If you have a favorite booking agent, Priceline, Expedia and others are also linked from the Trivago site. If you collect Wyndham, Choice Hotel, or other travel points, do your own thing. With thanks to Dan, who supplied the new picture (in color) for this year's flyer so you can easily identify St. John's Episcopal Church, is our final word on directions, motels and phones. Drop an email to Dan at pdan.brittain@gmail.com if you have questions or need more help.
At the April 12th singing at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, several singers brought up the point that our usual May 2nd Sunday singing date would arrive on Mother's Day. Mother's rule! Those present quickly concurred that the May 10, 2015 singing at the museum was canceled and we should still spend time with our mothers, family and friends on Mother's Day. The next regular singing will be on June 14th.
The information we included in the April newsletter regarding the annual Ozarks Folk Center State Park Shape Note School and Singing scheduled for July 9-11 in Mountain View, AR has been posted on the Shiloh Singers calendar. I'm sure we'll talk about the Thursday evening through Saturday event, but I'm hearing some favorable discussions about the Saturday, July 11th, singing in the Old High School Auditorium. See the webpage for the known details.
One More Thing: If you know of a singer who might be interested in attending the NW Arkansas Sacred Harp Singing Convention, share a copy of the flyer with them, or post a copy on the church or choir bulletin board, or even better, bring them with you. We've always had a good singing at Harrison, no matter what the weather, good people getting together to enjoy singing has always turned out well. Hope you'll join us in Harrison on May 2nd.
Shiloh Singers a little more lead time to make plans for the
