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FREE CONCERT and sing-along. Mark Peterson, Elwyn Behnke, Jim Dayton, and Ron Olisar will make their occasional appearance on the last day of summer to sing FOR you and WITH you. Don't we all need more music in this world?!In each concert, the Occasional Quartet of volunteer musicians includes a fundraiser to benefit the community. Donations will be requested ROSA FOUNDATION which administers an exciting project in Mississippi that Ron Olisar and Sally Godard have been involved with since 2021.
In the rural community of Holly Springs, Ron and Sally, with a passionate, diverse group of local community members and professors at University of Mississippi are dedicated to preserving important history that is too often ignored or suppressed. We restored and now maintain an antebellum site that includes an 1851 family home and an 1847 Quarters that housed nine enslaved people in 1860.
This property is the site of Behind the Big House, an award-winning project that provides free tours and expert historical interpretation to highlight the narratives of enslaved people on the very site where they lived and worked. Last year, more than 500 school children, 4th - 12th grades, experienced interpreters demonstrating brickmaking, laundry duties of the 1850s, cooking greens, black-eyed peas, and rabbit over an open fire, quilting, and archaelogical techniques.
Volunteers who are descendents of enslaved people from this area also have poignant stories to tell while they assist others in efforts to "find their ancestors," too.
The site, a symbol of the tragic history of slavery, is now becoming a place that can raise up the whole community as we promote Black history, music and culture; engage in difficult community conversations; work to preserve native plants and trees; and plan for a vibrant future.
With no paid staff, this work is accomplished by volunteers. We depend on individual donations to supplement small grants that sustain our site and programs and allow us to plan for a productive future. We thank you for any support you are able to give.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Grand Ballroom, 325 NE Third Street, Second Floor, McMinnville, Oregon, United States
