My good friend introduced me to the band Over the Rhine four or five years ago. Ever since, I’ve had several of their songs on my playlist and I’ve followed them on Facebook. Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist live on a farm in southern Ohio. They frequently post photos from their farm of sunsets and birds, similar to the ones I sometimes take, and this just made me like them more. Once in a while, they ask for volunteers to work the merchandise table at one of their concerts in exchange for free admission to a show. I thought that would be fun, and I’ve watched for an opportunity to do this somewhere in the Chicago area.
So far, it hasn’t worked out, but I did see that they were performing in southern Ohio over Memorial Day weekend. They’ve purchased a second farm and are turning the barn into a studio/performance center. For a donation, we were invited to a concert on the grounds.
We arrived around 4:30 on a warm, sunny afternoon. We found a spot in the shade on the front lawn and relaxed and gazed at the cornfield across the road. I also wandered around and took some photos.
The studio barn under construction. They are essentially building a new building around the outside of the barn to preserve it.
Part of the weekend’s festivities was a photo contest, with awards to be given in several categories, one of which was “best photo of the barn.” I submitted this one, of a young Starling sitting on a beam watching the people wandering about. I titled it “Waiting for the music to begin.” I never saw the results of the contest, however.
The concert was held in a tent on the farm. There were perhaps 500 people there. We wandered in early and saw that people were saving seats with coats, so we put ours on two seats in the third row.
