By Victoria Fowler
Gazette Reporter 

Palouse continues monthly open mic night

 

April 16, 2020

For more than 15 years on the first Friday of each month, downtown Palouse has hosted an open mic night for residents to enjoy food, drinks and music together.

Although, with the current "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" order given by Gov. Jay Inslee, meeting for an open mic night in April seemed like it wasn't an option, but local Palouse musicians had another idea.

"Leslie Sena, Jens Hegg and I worked together to organize the very first Palouse Palouse Homebound Open Mic," said musician and organizer Mary Welcome. "We used the Zoom video conferencing platform to bring neighbors, family and friends together around the same tradition of local music, everyone singing along from their own homes."

Welcome said the event was a success with approximately 80 people in attendance and around 20 performers.

The Zoom platform allowed those interested to join from tablets, smart phones, computers or call in from a landline to participate.

"Because the event was virtual, even folks that no longer live in Palouse were able to join and perform; friends and family of the Palouse community came together from all over the country," Welcome said.

The open mic night lasted just more than three hours with approximately 100 people altogether on the digital platform.

Welcome said the youngest performer of the night was three-year-old Finn Herbold, opening the digital open mic night with Unknown Legend by Neil Young.

"I was really impressed by the turnout," said local musician and MC for the April 3 event Jens Hegg. "It felt really nice to be able to see everybody you would normally chat with at the regular Congress open mic, even if the context was different. You don't realize how important those social connections are until you can't have them."

Sponsoring the event was Palouse Hotline. This is a volunteer-run service that is providing information and non-emergency community care to the town of Palouse during COVID-19. Palouse Hotline provided the technology to make the event available to the community.

Citizens of Palouse were also able to star in their own "commercial breaks" for the night's event by highlighting local businesses and raising money for the Palouse Community Service Corps mutual aid fund.

Approximately $2,000 was raised during the Homebound Open Mic Night for the community mutual aid fund.

This mutual aid fund goes directly toward the needs of the Palouse community, as well as direct financial support for neighbors, the Palouse Food Pantry and the Palouse EMS.

The next Palouse Palouse Homebound Open Mic is planned for May 1, the first Friday of the month.

"The event will continue for as long as the stay-home order lasts," Welcome said. "We look forward to being together again at the Congress for Open Mic in the post-COVID future."

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Cheney Free Press
Ritzville Adams County Journal
Whitman County Gazette
Odessa Record
Franklin Connection
Davenport Times
Spokane Valley News Herald
Colfax Daily Bulletin

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/19/2024 17:01