A number of Joplin-area musicians and singers will be joining many others at the 19th annual Southern and Bluegrass Gospel Music Festival on Sept. 12 at Snyder Music Park in Halltown.
This year’s presentation, called “George Bryant and Friends First Homecoming,” will be held from noon to 9 p.m. and, according to park owner Virginia Snyder, will feature at least 11 Southern and bluegrass Gospel bands.
Duke Mason and the Heartland Band from Webb City will be the headliners at the park, which can be reached by taking Interstate 44 to Halltown Exit 58, going north on Highway Z and following Z through Lawrenceburg to Highway MM. The park is a quarter-mile north of Z and five miles south of Ash Grove on MM.
“We have had this festival every year since 1990 but this year George Bryant is getting the groups together,” said the 82-year-old Snyder, who built the park in honor of her father, Freddie Glen Snyder, a well-known Springfield-area musician who died in 1974.
Bryant is a part-time Christian radio announcer with KWFC in Springfield. He is also an ordained minister.
Mason and his band will not be the only Webb City group to perform. The Ninth Hour Quartet will also be there. This group consists of all teenagers except for pianist Matthew Holt, music teacher at Webb City High School.
Canaan Bound, of Neosho, will also take the stage. Leader and founder Gary Crawford writes all the original songs for the group, which performs monthly in Carthage.
The admission charge will be $5; children 12 and younger get in for free. Crafts and food concessions will be available and everyone is urged to bring lawn chairs. Camping with water and electrical hook-ups cost $10 for the day. More information is available by calling Bryant at (417) 865-6704.
Snyder, who used to sing in gospel quartets around the Springfield area with her father, said she built the park for him.
“He always wanted a place to play for the people,” she said. “It was his dream and his dream became my dream.”
She said her father played banjo, guitar and mandolin and could play a little bit on every instrument.
Snyder, who was raised on a farm near Lawrenceburg, has taken care of the 40-acre park by herself until recently when she had a friend come in to help her with the eight acres of mowing.
She estimates that the most the festival has drawn was between 500 and 600 people in 2005. Even though the festival is a big part of the park, it’s not just about that.
“In addition to a nice stage, a gazebo where players can jam and modern restrooms, there is also a nature trail and three springs on the property,” she said. “There is also a one-room school that they can tour.”
Snyder retired from a 42-year teaching career in 1986 and even taught in a one-room school at Union Hall north of Halltown before eventually going on to Springfield, where she taught all but 10 of those 42 years.
Because Snyder, her mother and other family members attended a one-room school, she decided to restore a 1901 school house and move it to Snyder Park.
“I am preserving history and the values that we knew back then,” she said. “The little one-room school is a symbol of education in America. It is a legacy to learning. We had prayer in school, read Bible verses and taught a lot of patriotism and a lot of values that are really missing today.”
Address correspondence to Rich Brown c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, MO 64802 or e-mail rbrown@joplinglobe.com.
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