Hobo Minstrels returns in March for 83rd season
GREENCASTLE - Locals can enjoy classic songs and jokes at the 83rd Hobo Minstrels season this March.
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The new season, titled “A Hometown Minstrel,” will include a chorus and a band performing several selections which blend the tones of many popular songs with a hometown flavor, such as “Deep in the Heart of Texas” by Larry Keener, “Green, Green Grass of Home” by Harry Gsell, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” by Ray Mowen Jr., “Detroit City, I Wanna Go Home” by Phil Oberholzer, “Back Home Again” by Daryl Freshman and “Sentimental Journey” by Benny Thomas. Other chorus favorites will also be performed, including “That Old Gang of Mine,” “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home,“ “Rocky Top,” “Rock Of Ages,” God Bless America,” and more. Special solos will be presented by Bill Brown, Carl Fahnestock, Dave Reeder and the HOCO Quartet, along with Trevor Timmons on piano, Carl Fahnestock on the banjo and guitar, Craig Wolfe on the drums, Durand Walter on the base guitar and Lilly Fahnestock on the harmonica. Todd Roland returns with Benny Thomas as premier end-men.
The first Rescue Hose Company Volunteer Minstrel began in 1929, and now includes more than 70 volunteers. The proceeds raised will go toward the fire department, which provides fire, rescue and emergency medical services to the Greencastle-Antrim community.
The shows, which are under the direction of Ben Thomas, Jr. with Dr. C. Gregory Hoover as the interlocutor, will be held at 7:30 p.m. on March 8, 9 and 10 in the Greencastle-Antrim High School auditorium on South Ridge Avenue. Tickets are available at the door each evening for $6 a person, or $3 for children 10 years and younger. Doors will be open to the front and rear of the school every night.
On March 10, Shady Grove Troop 95 will host an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner in the school's cafeteria from 5-7 p.m., with the proceeds benefiting the troop.
Cast members will also entertain the residents of Quincy Home at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 2, and the residents at Falling Springs Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 3.