Music in the Orchard

There were just too many choices for what to do on this past Saturday night: the Balloon Fest at Plantation Field; a history talk at London Grove Meeting; a concert by the Holmes Brothers in Media; "women's music" icon Holly Near in Bryn Mawr; not to mention a pre-Father's Day family event. What to do? Our choice was to head west to the 1719 Hans Herr House in Willow Street, Lancaster County, for an outdoor concert in their apple orchard.
The opening act was two young women, one on percussion and one on guitar and mandolin, who are part of the folk/bluegrass/blues group Indian Summer Jars from York. They said they'd had a busy day: they'd already played one concert in Mechanicsburg and ran a 5K in Harrisburg!
The group Sopa Sol was Frances Miller on violin and Daryl Snider on guitar, with one of Frances's students joining them on violin for "Wayfaring Stranger" and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." Frances also played an unusual instrument called a hang drum that looked like a wok and sounded like a steel drum. She and her husband own a dairy farm in Quarryville, Fiddle Creek Dairy, and she said she learned early on that when you marry a dairy farmer you marry not only him but also his cows.
The concert was very informal--you bring your own chairs or blanket--and drew everyone from hippies to bikers to older folks with their grandkids. Adorable kids were running around in the area in front of the stage. One young boy got a little too close to the stage and, while jumping up and down, accidentally dislodged a cable for the sound system.
"This is what I love about live music," said my companion. "Singers forget the words. Cables come unplugged. Keepin' it real!"
People either brought picnics or bought food from the onsite vendor, OCB Cakes, which is a bakery and coffee shop in Strasburg. We bought a very tasty pulled pork sandwich and a loaf of Old Bay-seasoned bread with crab dip. They also offered veggie kebabs, sticky buns, whoopee pies and ice cream.
During the 20-minute intermission we walked around the grounds of the historic site and admired the fenced-in vegetable/herb garden, the actual Hans Herr house, and a replica of a Native American longhouse (the outside surface is made of sheets of textured rubber that really look like bark).
It got pretty chilly as the sun went down toward the end of the show. People were wrapping blankets around themselves, and I was glad I packed a pair of socks. The guy in front of us turned up the collar of his madras shirt to try to keep his neck warm.
This show marked the start of the third season of concerts in the orchard. Four additional shows are on the schedule on June 28, July 12, July 26 and Aug. 9. We'll be back! (Oh, and it's a lovely drive out to Willow Street, which is just south of Lancaster.)