From simple exercise to Simply Patsy, senior citizens enjoy a special day at the fair

[August 09, 2022]   Friday morning, the Lincoln Stage area was a delightful place to be for local senior citizens. Senior Day at the fair involved three forms of entertainment, slash activity, for the more seasoned fairgoers starting with a morning of exercise.

Georgia Allison leads the Silver Fox program in the community and holds sessions at the Christian Village on a regular basis. On Friday she moved the event to the fairgrounds to encourage local seniors to come in and have some fun while staying active.

It was a warm day, but not the hottest of fair week. Nonetheless, the turn out for that portion of the morning was not huge.



However, the senior citizen lust for bingo came shining through mid-morning with the entire barn where the Lincoln Stage resides filled to overflowing with seniors. It is estimated that more than 80 local seniors came in to try to win the many gifts that were displayed on tables in front of the stage.

The bingo session was come for a while leave and come back do as you wish type event and several seniors stopped in to use bingo as a sit-a-spell before moving on to some other morning activity or to just check out the many exhibits in the showbarns.



The 2022 Logan County Fair royalty Miss Logan County Fair Emma Stoltzenburg, Junior Miss Isabella Pollice and Little Miss Luci Bobell stopped in to visit for a while and took their turns at verifying the numbers on the cards of those who claimed BINGO.

The bingo event was hosted by the Oasis Senior Center with Oasis staff on hand to assist during the day.





The Oasis had plenty of additional support from a variety of the local senior living facilities in the county. Those staff members came, many bringing residents from their respective living centers, and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.

Popcorn and bottled water were made available to anyone who wanted, and with a cold drink, a salty buttery snack and several fans running throughout the area, guests were comfortable and having a good time just spending time together.

As the mid part of the day approached, those who lingered in the stage area had the wonderful treat of hearing Mary Pfeifer perform her musical program, “Simply Patsy.” The program was a tribute to the late Patsy Cline, dubbed one of country music’s best of the best female vocalists.



Mary and her husband team up for this show with her providing the sound and him managing that sound through the speaker systems.

Pfeifer told the group that she was not an impersonator. She mentioned that she is a little more seasoned than the late Patsy Cline, who died at the age of 30. Pfeifer said she was not going to try an impersonate someone who was only 30 years old.

But, she sang beautifully and selection of songs that made Cline notable in Nashville throughout her short life including some of the most popular of Cline’s hits.

Pfeifer was mobile during her performance, leaving the stage to get down on the floor with her audience and interacting with some of them. She encouraged dancing while she sang, but it appeared that all the seniors were perhaps a little too shy to do so. But then again, maybe they just didn’t want to focus on anything other than the excellent sounds of Simply Patsy.

All in all, it was an excellent day at the Logan County Fair for local seniors. Everyone had a great time playing bingo, winning prizes, and simply getting to relax and visit with old friends or perhaps even make a new one or two.

[Nila Smith / Karen Hargis]

[Text from file received from ]