Get in the Christmas Spirit visiting Blanchard Springs Caverns Caroling in the Caverns!
Get in the Christmas Spirit visiting Blanchard Springs Caverns Caroling in the Caverns!
Are you in the Christmas spirit yet? If you are not or even if you are, one event currently going on in the region will get you in the spirit or heighten your spirit. “Caroling in the Caverns” at Blanchard Springs Caverns near Mountain View will definitely do the job. Now in its 16th year, they have entertained thousands of people with this very unique and magnificent show.
Sunday evening, November 27th at the invite of my out-of-state cousins from Texas, we all went to a delightful show headed by Pam Setser and her wonderful crew of singers and musicians. Robert and Mary Gillihan, long time friends of mine, Ron Haynes and I apologize I didn’t get Earl’s last name and of course Pam gave little over an hour of Christmas music in the Cathedral Room of the Caverns. If you have never been in the caverns before, that is a spectacular visit by itself but adding these talented folks in the forefront with magnificent rock formations in the background is really breathtaking to say the least.
Pam is the daughter of a dear late friend of mine, Jean Jennings who was a legend herself in Mountain View’s folk music history and one of the creators of the Caroling in the Caverns show. As the old saying goes, Pam is a “chip off the old block” with her own musical talent and angel voice. I told Pam afterwards after the show, it was hard not to think of Jean listening to her sing and playing the guitar, dulcimer and even the spoons. And of course, Robert and Mary which I have known since the 1980s when I used to help the Ozark Folk Center as a consultant with their marketing activities for many years, can be a show just by themselves. They never cease in entertaining you with their talents as well.
My favorite times of the show were when they went down in the Caverns and out of sight two or three different times and listen to those beautiful voices echoing throughout the caverns without any amplification at all. It was just beautiful and joyful!
There are shows still available to attend on Friday, Saturday and Sundays through Dec. 18. Reservations and times available can be made in advance through the Mountain View Chamber at 870-269-8068 during regular business hours or go to www.yourplaceinthemountains.com. Blanchard Springs Caverns phone number is 870-757-2211 for caverns information. Go and hurry, I will guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Charlie Morris
Locust Grove, AR
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*Buy your tickets at yourplaceinthemountains.com or call the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce at 870-269-8068.*
(Per web site) Dates for the Annual “Caroling in the Caverns” for 2016 are now scheduled. Treat your family to wonderful holiday music, created from the acoustic combination of talented area musicians’ voices and stringed instruments filling the air of the great Cathedral Room at Blanchard Springs Caverns, near Mountain View, Arkansas. This wonderful seasons production will begin with the following performances:
- November 25th & 26th (6:00 pm) & Nov 27 (4:30 pm)
- December 2nd (6:00), 3rd (6:30), 4th (2:30, 4:30), 9th (6:00), 10th (4:30, 6:30), 11th (2:30, 4:30) 16th (6:00) ,17 th (2:30, 4:30, 6:30), 18th (2:30, & 4:30)
- $20 per person plus $8 for early bird tour*
- Any questions please call the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce at 870-269-8068
- Advanced tickets are required and can be obtained through the Mountain View Area Chamber of Commerce at 1-888-679-2859.
- Tickets are non-refundable
*Also being offered, with the matinee performances only, is an “Early Bird” special walking tour of Blanchard Springs Caverns. For those unfamiliar, on the tour you will see magnificent crystalline formations, sparkling flowstone and towering columns.
Cavern guides escort you into the Cathedral Room where the incredible sound of area folk musicians rises out of the semi-dark. The combination of music and Mother Nature’s acoustically perfect Cathedral Room at Blanchard Caverns is “a natural”. To best describe what a great experience this is, was a quote from one guest, “I was deep in the earth and yet I’ve never felt closer to Heaven.”
