Inlay

You travel more than a mile down a set of dirt roads to get to get to the Counterpoint Music, Art, & Conservation Festival. But, when you get there, there is music. And lots of it. Wind turbines reach up towards an increasingly cloudy Kansas sky. __Courtesy photo by Katie Pownell.__ Cellist and organizer Susan Mayo hosted the annual festival on May 30 at her country home near Peabody, Kansas, just 43 miles from Wichita. The gathering, which began at 1 p.m. and ran until about 10, included music performances and workshops, land stewardship speakers, children's activities, food trucks, and visual art — paintings and drawings stacked under tents and tacked to trees. Where the trees part, there is a stage, and someone carries an upright bass. Someone else a banjo. Someone lugs a hammer dulcimer. The Alfred Packer Memorial String Band plays a set for festival-goers on an outdoor stage. __Photo by Kevin Rabas for The SHOUT.__ The performers included Alfred Packer Memorial String Band, Jim "Stinky Feet" Cosgrove (a children's act), Von Hansen, and Jopará Ensemble, among others. With a slant towards strings, the musical styles included world music, folk, old-time, and pop. The Packer band, which includes the hammer dulcimer, banjo, and upright bass, sang this zany lyric: "I miss Pluto. / You're the cutest dwarf / in the sky" from the main stage. Von Hansen performs on the outdoor stage, which is partially enclosed by trees. __Photo courtesy of Susan Mayo.__ In a clearing with tall trees vignetting all sides, concert-goers sit in lawn chairs, wear sunglasses and hats, sip from water jugs, chat and watch. They tug at their beards. They watch the dark clouds move in. As the evening simmers, and the rain starts to fall in quarter-sized drops, everything moves inside. Some lug tables into the outer rooms, and the living room goes to rows of folding chairs. What was once an outdoor affair under the sun and sky has become a house concert. After the rain begins, Jopará Ensemble plays in Susan Mayo's home. __Photo by Kevin Rabas for The SHOUT.__ Jopará Ensemble, a string ensemble composed of Paraguayan immigrants who perform new and traditional music from their home country, played to a backdrop of dark skies and heavy rain, sometimes punctuated by thunder and lightning. Irene Diaz plays cello with the Jopará Ensemble. __Photo by Kevin Rabas for The SHOUT.__ "When the wind goes, and the trees, like this," Jopará cellist Irene Diaz points to the window full of storm, "that is Paraguay." The virtuosic quartet performed complex, energetic tunes — some slow, some quick — with zest and spunk and with good spirits. Ramiro Miranda serves as the violinist and bandleader for Jopará Ensemble. __Photo by Kevin Rabas for The SHOUT.__ Jopará performed the tune "Mis Noches Sin Tí/My Nights Without You," and bandleader/violinist Ramiro Miranda said the composer of that ballad wrote the tune when he was away from home, missing it, and an audience member said "homesick." Alejandro Avila plays piano in the Jopará Ensemble. __Photo by Kevin Rabas for The SHOUT.__ "To all Paraguayans who have left home … it is something we can relate to. We four," said Alejandro Avila, Jopará pianist. After his vehicle got stuck in the mud, Tim Snider made the final part of his journey to the festival on foot. __Photo courtesy of Susan Mayo.__ Once the rain let up, Switchgrass String Quartet's featured violinist Tim Snider was able to make the walk up the dirt road to the house with his instrument. (His car was stuck in the mud.) Switchgrass concluded the evening, ending around 10 p.m. ## Our free email newsletter is like having a friend who __always__ knows what's happening Get the scoop on Wichita’s arts & culture scene: events, news, artist opportunities, and more. Free, weekly & worth your while. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Organizer and host Susan Mayo plays cello in the group. Mayo is an important, sustaining force in the Midwest strings scene, co-founding groups like Switchgrass and Multifarious Trio. Mayo is also a composer who contributes tunes to both groups. Recently, the South Kansas Symphony performed her first work for orchestra. Susan Mayo speaks to the crowd gathered in the impromptu indoor performance space. __Photo by Kevin Rabas for The SHOUT.__ "It is so nice to play cello after schlepping things all day," Mayo said. Each pluck of the string or bowed note is now intimate. You can hear the trace of fingertips. You can hear breath. Toe tap. Chair creak on hardwood floor. What was for the wind through the trees has become a serenade. Onstage, upfront, I imagine you can hear the room listen. Chloe Hagen demonstrates how to grow mushrooms in a log. Participants left with their very own starter logs. __Photo courtesy of Susan Mayo.__ Manhattan, Kansas-based artist Kelly Yarborough leads a workshop on drawing the natural world. __Photo courtesy of Susan Mayo.__ Lawrence, Kansas-based performer Richard Renner brought his "Recycle Cycle" to the festival. __Photo courtesy of Susan Mayo.__ ## The Details Next year's **Counterpoint Music, Art, & Conservation Festival** is slated for June 12, 2027. It is free and open to everyone, though donations are welcome. Learn more about the festival and other events on the Flint Hills Counterpoint website. * * * _Past Poet Laureate of Kansas (2017-2019)**Kevin Rabas** teaches at Emporia State University, where he directs the creative writing program. He has 16 books, including “Elizabeth’s City.” Rabas is also a jazz drummer. He lives in Newton, Kansas._ ****Popular Reads**** ❋ Derby man has the kind of voice that turns heads — and chairs ❋ Socializing while sober: how some Wichitans are cultivating alcohol-free communities ❋ As a small creative business closes, the owner mourns❋ Painting through it: Autumn Noire on 20 years of making art❋ How a guy from Wichita resurrected 'Dawn of the Dead'❋ Bygone Friends University museum housed curious collections ## Support Kansas arts writing The SHOUT is a Wichita-based independent newsroom focused on artists living and working in Kansas. We're partly supported by the generosity of our readers, and every dollar we receive goes directly into the pocket of a contributing writer, editor, or photographer. Click here to support our work with a tax-deductible donation**.** Yes! I want to support the SHOUT