History & Previous Contest Results

2007 - Our 10th Annual show was an enormous celebration which reunited many musicians and fans.  We had a record crowd again with 242 campers and tents joining in for a fun filled weekend.  Stonewall Jackson performed on our Thursday Night Grand Old Opry Showcase to a near capacity enthusiastic crowd.  Other featured entertainers new this year included, Buddy & Tina Wright Family of Lubbock, TX, Lorene Clark with Laurentian Divide of Minnesota, Great White Possum String Company from the Kansas City area, Bobby Awe and KWMT's Dale Eichor of Fort Dodge, IA, and Fiddlin' Jake Simpson of Wyandotte, OK.  Many other fan favorites entertained the record crowd. The weather was nice.  A severe storm interrupted the Main Stage show for a few hours as the wind blew so hard from the North it soaked all the sound equipment on the Main Stage.  We've been through that before, haven't we?  The other stages continued and after a couple hours our new sound man was able to get the show back up and running again.  This was the first year for our good friends Harry Derr and his partner Shirley working sound for us.  They did a terrific job and we're proud they'll be joining us again next year. 

Our 2007 contest winners for our special 10th Anniversary were - Band Scramble - "Platte River Rats" including Guy Johnson of Riverdale, NE, Virgil Reichmuth of Lindsay, NE, Ernie Ruth of Bartlett, IA, Mike O'Neel of Ord, NE and Jay Engle of Grand Island, NE. The songwriter's contest was won by Pamela Ashby of Omaha, NE.  She wrote a terrific song using the 2007 phrase, "Not Enough Time".  I was hoping our youngest ever contestant would win.  Michael Levi, only 12 years old, wrote a cute and age appropriate song that was fantastic.  The competition was tight as he didn't even place in the Top 3.  Keep an eye out for this young man and ask him to sing "Not Enough Time" for you.  The Dance Contest winners were James & Sandy Psota of Ord, NE and we'll see them again next year to judge 2008's Dance Contest.

 
The t-shirts sold out for the first time in the 10 year history of the show.  A variety of colors were available this year including purple, maroon, and navy.
 
2006 - Our 9th Annual show saw another record number of campers and folks attending the best Wahoo Country Music Show yet.  Leona Williams was our Grand Old Opry entertainer on Thursday night which got the weekend started off with plenty more great country music to follow.  Other special guests during the weekend included Terry Smith of Nashville, TN and Les Gilliam of Ponca City, OK, both of these gentlemen put on great shows. 

The weather was warm, but not hot and with a few new camping spaced added this year, we had mostly good luck with finding room for the extra campers that attended.  We honored the memory of Buck Owens this year and we began our stepping stone memorial garden with stones for Sharon's dad, Jerome Harre, and other friends of the Wahoo Country Music Show including, Lola Taft, Rita Maloney, & Marion Meyer.  For More information on the stepping stone memorial garden and how you can contribute, click here.
 
The 2006 contest winners included, the Band Scrambles' "Bees In A Bonnet" featuring Jerry Hogan of Fayetteville, AR; Rod Jensen of Parker, CO; Galen Meriwether of Edwardsville, KS; Bill Langford of Hastings, NE; Shirley Schacht of Aurora, NE; and Sandy Brodersen of Omaha, NE.  The Songwriter's Contest first place winner was Garry Bichelmeyer of Tonganoxie, KS writing a great song from this year's phrase, "Mud In My Camper", and the dance contest winners were Smokey Mast of South Sioux City, NE and Lila Henke of Akron, IA.  What a great group of competitors we had in 2006 in all the contests!  T-Shirt colors this year included, purple, green, maroon, & pink,

2005 - A last minute announcement came that our scheduled Grand Old Opry entertainer, Leona Williams, would not be able to attend due to a death in her family. How fortunate could we be that she was able to send the Great Legend, Jean Shepard, to put on a wonderful show for us, and that she did.

The weather was hot throughout the entire week with temperatures over 100 degrees. This always causes problems with the power from the high demand of power for air conditioning, but despite all that the shows were excellent and well attended with yet another increase in numbers, both in campers and festival goers.

Our 2005 contest winners were  - Band Scramble - "Thorns and Roses" including Harriette Andersen, Underwood, IA; Jay Engle, Grand Island, NE; David Lewis Beck of Blue Rapids, KS; Sandy Broderson of Omaha, NE, and Francis Hahn of Mapleton, IA. The songwriter's phase was Winter Chill and Pamela Ashby of Omaha, NE was this year's winner. The Dance contest has some great competitors and the 2005 winners were Louie & Lucille Heldenbrand of Linden, IA.

T-shirt colors were purple, green, pink, maroon, and lavendar.

2004 - The weather was cool but the Opening Night Showcase featuring Claude Gray & Pretty Miss Norma Jean made it a great night to be out. What a thrill it was to have two great Grand Old Opry stars on our stage to start the 7th Annual Show. Due to the cool temperatures, we moved the World Famous Mark & Dave show into the 4-H building later that same night so they could play where it was a little warmer. This was some fantastic music put on by lots of great entertainers including Mark Jenkins, Dave Elifrits, Dwayne Reed and Jay Kelly along with several other guest performers.

This year we were lucky once again to have the largest number of participating musicians of any Nebraska festival. It seemed that this year more than ever there were some terrific jam sessions around every corner and the weather was perfect for the entire weekend. I'm sure 2005 will bring even more musicians because everyone that attended in 2004 said they had lots and lots of fun.

Our 2004 contest winners for the Band Scramble were, "Work in Progress" including Dustin Hunt of Kansas City, MO, Jerry Porter of Indianola, NE, Sue Bret of Omaha, NE, Sandy Broderson of Omaha, NE, Cory Jeter of Harlan, Ia, and Juanita Andrews of Council Bluffs, IA. Francis Hahn of Mapleton, IA was our Songwriting Contest winner writing a song with the phrase "Old Country Song". Our first place dance contestants went to a well deserved Larry & Mary Lou Beeson of Wisner, NE. We're looking forward to having all these great contestants back again for our 2005 contests, some as judges! This year's t-shirt colors were Red, White & Purple!

2003 -  Great weather brought a record crowd to the 6th Annual show. Star of the Grand Old Opry, Claude Gray, performed a terrific show in the 4-H Building to a standing room only crowd to kick things off on Thursday night.  This was the first appearance by such a celebrity.  The rest of the weekend featured some amazing entertainers from coast to coast and beyond.  Charley Groth came all the way from Florida (he'll be back in 2004).  This year marks our first of hopefully many international entertainers, the great fiddle player, George Kralik from the Czech Republic made a surprise visit and joined Bob & Sheila Everhart on stage to fiddle a couple tunes for us.  What a treat.  We were so fortunate to have so many great talents in 2003 we can't wait to see what 2004 will bring.

Cosette Hemen won the songwriter's contest.  The phrase was "Rough Around The Edges".  Bill Welch and Pat Caporale won the dance contest.  We'll have these contest winners back to judge the 2004 contests.

The band scramble was again a real popular event for the audience and the contestants.  The group named "Road Toad" took home first place.  The guys in this group were all very talented, so putting together four songs wasn't much of a challenge for them.  The group included Jerry Neeman of Ord, NE, Wayne Wooten of Waverly, NE, Ron Flanagan of Bennet, NE, Mark Jenkins of Washta, IA and David Lewis Beck of Blue Rapids, KS.  Two years in a row for Wayne Wooten to be in the winners circle. How does he do it?

A new activity this year was a sidewalk sale downtown on Thursday and Friday.  The O'Brien Family and Dustin Hunt performed Thursday afternoon during the sales.  T-Shirt colors were purple and ash.

2002 – We had a great increase in attendance and campers this year. The weather was hot and we had electricity capacity issues due to large demand with everyone trying to keep cool.

Rod Jensen of Parker, CO, won the songwriter’s contest. The phrase was Just One More Night Away From You Fern and Darrell Sorenson of Onawa, IA, won the dance contest.

The Closet Country Band won the band scramble with a great group of entertainers. They were Pam Flanagan of Bennet, NE, Janice Wolbrecht of Maryville MO, Wayne Wooten of Waverly, NE, Bobby Pugh Jr. of Lincoln, NE and Virgil Remmers of Wymore, NE.

I seem to recall a couple of them good old boys were dressed like women, weren’t they? T-shirt colors were dusty blue, green and purple.

2001 – Due to the unexpected death in January of Jerome E. Harre, (Sharon’s Dad), this was an emotional and difficult year for both family and friends. The show was dedicated to his memory and a fund was created for the American Heart Association in his honor.

The show must go on and everyone had a great time. Cosette Hemen of Yankton, SD won the first ever songwriter’s contest. The phrase that everyone had to use was Dancing In My Heart. Vanessa Kenaston of Millboro, SD and Bobbi Jo Lytle of Springview, NE won the dance contest.
The band scramble winner, The Rose and 4 Thornes, included Gerry Bichelmeyer of Tonganoxie, KS, Skip Muhm of Ames, NE, Danny McElroy of Ashland, NE, Forrest Rabel of Warrensburg, MO and Wanda Jones of Tekamah, NE. T-shirt colors were yellow and purple.

2000 – A great crowd turned out to watch Dick and Vonna Holdren of Filley, NE win the first ever dance contest.

The Misfits won the band scramble. Bill Craven played the trumpet without a trumpet. There were also lots of good singers in the winning group and they put on quite a show. The group was Bill Craven of Taylor, NE, Arella Hanvold of Branson, MO, Jerry Neeman of Ord, NE, Sandi Reed of Malcolm, NE, and Virgil Remmers of Cortland, NE.

The late Sunday afternoon show was interrupted by a violent thunderstorm and tornado warning as a funnel cloud developed right over the fairgrounds and was later spotted over the Mead Cattle Company, about five miles East of the fairgrounds. We managed to give the awards out in the 4-H building after making sure everyone was safe and the danger was over. Then we moved some campers to higher ground due to over 6 inches of rain upstream. We heard a lot of stories later about people that tried to drive home in that storm. People sought shelter under the main stage as we stuffed instruments, cases and supplies right along with them without even knowing there were people under there. We are so thankful that no one was injured and everyone got home safely. I know the people who were there will never forget it and hope it never happens again. T-shirt colors were purple and tan.
1999 – This was the year that we had an alien invasion. Sue and Ernie Ruth and friends won the Jam Site Contest for the second year in a row. The alien invasion carried over into the comedy skit that Sue & Ernie did. We still see alien stickers on guitar straps from the invasion. Ernie helped his group win the band scramble with the Wanna Bees. Remember? Sweet Bee, Honey Bee? I can’t remember them all, but the group consisted of Harriette Andersen of Underwood, IA, Bill Eagle of Carson, IA, Joyce Fratt of Livingston, TX, Lee Muller of Americus, KS, Jim Reed of Malcolm, NE and Ernie Ruth of Bartlett IA. T-Shirt colors were plum and coral.
1998 – Lake Ernie (Sue and Ernie Ruth of Bartlett, IA) won the Jam Site Contest (no banjos allowed) thanks to wet and cold weather and a puddle in their campsite. The main stage closed early due to cold temperatures, but Ernie warmed us up when he lit a fire during the band scramble.
Speaking of the band scramble, this was the year that Sweet & Low won the band scramble with their Viagra song. Thanks, Sandi Reed of Malcolm NE, Rita Maloney of Silver City, IA, Jim Reed of Malcolm, NE, Sue Ruth of Bartlett, IA and Mary Schutz of Streetman, TX for making a memory we still hear people talking about. T-Shirt colors were purple and white.
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