Jun 14, 2018
Good fans, good families, good food, good music, good friends and good times.
Such has been the takeaway from the two past Retro Jam & Musician’s Reunion events. The reunion is back for its third year from 1-7 p.m. Sunday behind the Stafford Fire Department.
“All these guys called me and said they want to play. They’re going to show up and play. Everybody’s invited. There’s no cover,” said Bill Pitcher, a life member of the Stafford Fire Department and a Fire Department “ambassador.”
It’s kind of like payback from the musicians to the Stafford firefighters for all the years they supported us,” Pitcher said, referring to the jamborees that took place for many years as part of the Stafford Carnival.
If you go Sunday, look for performances by bands such as Ryan & Scott, Front Porch Pickers, Ghost Riders, Rick Howe Band, TONK! Bros., Patrice & Friends, Rock-a-Bully’s and KW Does Country.
“We just want people to know it’s there. If they want to come, they’re more than welcome. The musicians are going to show up, regardless,” Pitcher said. “I would say 90 percent of the members of those bands, in various configurations, have entertained at the past jamborees. Some of them have played together before and then played in different groups and got back together just for this.
“They liked the idea of playing on Father’s Day. It’s another event for the area,” he said. “The jam is sort of like a concert, but it’s not really because the bands come and they ask the people to sit in with them. That’s the retro jam. That’s the way jamborees they used to be. Now, they’re more like shows.”
Pitcher said most of the musicians playing Sunday are well-known in the area.
“They play several functions and they have over the years — wedding receptions, parties, local watering holes. Anytime there’s a venue that has live entertainment, these musicians have probably played it,” he said.
The reunion sprang from the demise, two years ago, of the Stafford Carnival — a main Fire Department fundraiser for many years, he said.
“For 35 years, we had a jamboree at the Stafford Carnival on Father’s Day,” Pitcher said. “A year went by with nothing happening and musicians contacted me and said ‘Let’s do something on Father’s Day.’”
