There were 13 performers on stage last night,  bringing us a review of musical history from the past 250 years.  Kudos to you, stars!
The show opened with the Honor Guard from the local VFW post, marching in with flags and rifles.  After reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the National Anthem Emcee Tom McKeever gave us an overview of what was coming.
The show was divided into distinct eras, with the popular songs of each being featured.  First we stepped way back to the 1760-1780 era.  Kat Miller sang “Yankee Doodle” and Sean Eller came on with “Shenandoah”.

Next we moved up to the War of 1812.  Gary Briggs gave us “The Battle of New Orleans”, complete with coonskin cap and rifle.  Judith Eckstein and Joyce Wheaton duetted  on “Down in the River to Pray”.

The Civil War / Western Expansion era gave us a lot of memorable music.  Don Plumley and the entire group sang “Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal”.  The ladies chirped in with “Oh, Susanna” and Steve Abraham continued the section with “The American Trilogy” and Bob Leonardo sang “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”.
From 1870 – 1910 was the Gilded Age.  Vic and Sheryl Raley came together on “Home on the Range”.  Gary tried to show off his fancy roping skills but failed humorously.  Kat Miller took the lariat and showed him how to use it properly.  Gail McKeever came out to perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing”.  And finally, Gary and the cast joined together in “You’re a Grand Old Flag”.
After the intermission, we slid smoothly (if reluctantly)  into the years of Depression and World War 1.  Kat sang and danced to “Over There”, then Donna got the audience singing along to “This Land is Your Land”.  Judith returned with “We’ll Meet Again”, and Vic, Steve, and Bob gave us a slow version of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”.
The last section of the program covered from 1950 to  the present.  We heard “God Bless the USA”, “The American Soldier”, “Bring Him Home”, “The Ragged Old Flag”, “Coming to America”, and “Abraham, Martin, and John”.  Gary Briggs came out to the audience in a full Uncle Sam suit while Sheryl sang “Some Gave All” and Donna did “Hole in the World”.  The Grand Finale (you know there had to be a Grand Finale) was “God Bless America”, “America the Beautiful”, and “Only in America”.

It was two hours of varied songs, some joyful and some sad.  Some tentative and some really assertive. Some singers were drowned out by the background (canned) music.  Pam Batey’s videos on the big screens were spot on.  If you missed it, you missed it.