Patriotic festival entertains, educates

The first Freedom Festival event, a celebration for veterans and their families, spread across the Creekside Park lawn in patriotic style last weekend.

A USO stage show provided entertainment reminiscent of Bob Hope's USO shows, known for their live performances called "Camp Shows" in which the entertainment helped boost the morale of servicemen and women. The USO was founded in 1941 in response to a request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide morale and recreational services to U.S. uniformed military personnel.

Some of the entertainment featured on the stage was a blast from the past as The Blonde Divas sang in close harmony like the swing and boogie-woogie era of the Andrew Sisters. Standup comic Adam Sprague had the audience in chuckles when talking about his own wacky life experiences. The Silverado Quartet harmonized with patriotic songs in barbershop-quartet style. Country-western singer Mac McCartney crooned out many country classic tunes and joked in between songs.

The American Legion went hand in hand with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) at their booth with information to educate the public about how their organizations serve the needs of the military, veterans who have honorably served, and their families.

Saturday morning, Mark McIntire from Sisters and John Pierson from Prineville donned Scottish kilts and drew in a crowd as they played "Amazing Grace" as a tribute to all the fallen soldiers who fought for our freedom.

"We are Military Honors By The Pipes, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a bagpiper for military funeral services at no cost to the families," said Pierson. "We rely solely on donations from our sponsors. Mark McIntire is our director and we love what we do."

Along with a smorgasbord of entertainment and information for veterans, their families and regular folk, the festival included more than a few vendors selling their treasures.

First-time vendor Trish Hanson from Seaside is a gifted laser artist with a unique perspective.

"I create a variety of laser art onto basswood, including sculptures, architectural bas reliefs and whimsical art displays," she said.

Sisters Amateur Radio Club was on hand to educate the public about the importance of ham radio.

"Amateur radio has been around almost since Marconi, and the first amateur licenses were granted in 1912. Early stations were spark stations and used Morse code for communications," said club member David Culver. "The HF bands allow hams to communicate over hundreds or even thousands of miles using ionospheric scatter. We just picked up someone all the way from Portugal. When disaster strikes and all other communications go down, there is a corps of amateur radio operators around the world ready to help."

Event organizer Richard Esterman was on hand and enjoying the USO stage show.

"This festival is to remind people where their freedom came from. If it wasn't for our veterans, where would we be?" said Esterman.