Road Trip

Some of us were born in a small town (though, with any luck, we won't die in one). You know, where everyone knows everyone, including those crazy kids Jack and Diane. Harrisonville, Missouri — population: less than 10,000 — is just about 30 miles south of Kansas City on U.S. Highway 71 and could easily be the setting for a John Mellencamp song. That may not sound like an endorsement, but it is. And here's a real good reason to spend this Fourth of July in Harrisonville: the second-annual Pale Horse Riders Country Music Festival. The event is happening at the Harrisonville City Park Amphitheater (706 Ash), where there's also a nine-hole golf course and a paintball field, plus bounce houses and other games for the kids. The musical talent includes Kansas City twanger Rex Hobart, who'll perform with his band the Honky Tonk Standards. Also playing: Big Fat Delicious, Adam Dean and Chrome, Slewholler, and event headliners Vandelsnook (a pair of contemporary country crooners). That nonsensical-sounding moniker is the marriage of the two band members' last names. Songwriters Phil Vandel and Matt Snook play a lot of little towns in this region, but last fall the duo took their patriotic song "Welcome Home" across the country for a slew of celebrity-studded performances on behalf of American troops. It being Independence Day and all, American soldiers will be on a lot of people's minds. Proceeds from concessions sold at the festival will benefit an organization that helps out the spouses and children of soldiers deployed overseas. The day's festivities extend from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and conclude with the biggest fireworks display in Cass County.
Sat., July 4, 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m., 2009