By Ashley Lodato
The Kids for the Congo concert at the Methow Valley United Methodist Church on Sunday (May 3) was attended by about five dozen people. Organized by sixth-graders Liv Aspholm, Keeley Brooks and Stephanie Strong, the concert raised money for children at an orphanage in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, which Wayne and Linda Mendro have been supporting for years.
Liv (piano), Keeley (violin) and Stephanie (cello) all played pieces, and were joined by quite a few other students, including Peter Aspholm, Aidan and Avery Catlin, Ian Delong, Lena Nelson, Alex Nicolazzo, and Maisy Shaw from the Methow Valley, and Courage, Justice, and Odessa Owens from Okanogan. The Owens children played “Ashokan Farewell,” which Margo Aspholm describes as swelling, rising, and reverberating throughout the church. Stella Gitchos sang “Scales and Arpeggios,” a motherly admonishment to practice, practice, practice, accompanied by Liv Aspholm.
Says Kelleigh McMillan about the students, “It’s very impressive that these students want to direct their talents for such a beautiful cause.” The kids raised more than $2,000 for the Congolese kids, which will be applied to the things that many of us take for granted — access to education, a place to sleep, and food.
Other things we take for granted, or at least used to but probably don’t anymore, include mankind’s ability to extinguish wildfires. I heard quite a few gripes last week about the hazy skies that were a result of a prescribed burn in the Rendezvous. It’s probably a good idea to remind ourselves about what the prescribed burns are intending to prevent, or at least mitigate. I think we’d all take a little smoke and smog now instead of anything July and August might throw at us. So go ahead, bring it on while you can!
This is the week when our wild west town seems to be at its wildest, and the energy is palpable. Driving past the rodeo grounds several times this weekend I saw preparations for the Ride the Rendezvous underway. On Monday morning the site was bustling, with riders on horseback out on the road and others in camp moving things to and fro. One modern orange camping dome tent stood out, a bright incongruity against a neat line of cream-colored outfitter wall tents. “May the fourth be with you,” I whispered to the riders embarking on their journey, unwilling to let a perfectly good Star Wars day go entirely unacknowledged.
