Symphony in the Flint Hills

Brian K. called me Thursday evening inviting us to the 3rd annual Symphony in the Flint Hills concert Saturday June 14th near Council Grove, KS. Unfortunately, Brian only had 3 tickets, but 4 of us wanted to attend. So, Friday morning I called the concert organizers and successfully procured a last minute ticket... This was surprisingly easy, considering that the concert had sold out (5,000 tickets) within 4 hours on the day that tickets went on sale months earlier.

Saturday at noon, Brian, Eric, Ann, and I loaded up the Camry with chairs, cooler, and picnic basket and made the 2-hour drive from Liberty to Council Grove. We resurrected a BA (Before Ann) vacation tradition by stopping at Dairy Queen in Council Grove for Blizzards, and then we proceeded to the concert site 2 miles south of town. As soon as we pulled off the highway, I regretted bringing the Camry, because it was not designed with driving across the prairie in mind. The Camry protested mightily with many underbody scraping sounds, but we managed to park it on the prairie with no apparent damage.

To reach the concert site, we had to hike across a mile of prairie hauling 4 chairs, a picnic basket, a stuffed cooler, and a 25+ week old fetus. Ann was a trouper, hauling both the fetus and the picnic basket!

Both the location and the concert were amazing, punctuated by a wagon train and a cattle drive. The concert ended as the sun was setting around 8:55 PM. By the time that the crowd cleared out, we arrived back in Liberty around 12:30 AM.

For a photo slideshow of the day, click below.

-Scott