By Kassandra Reyes
It is a lively atmosphere, with warm smiles, warm food, and warm people. On stage, guitar strings strum, feet tap, fiddle strings flutter, drums beat, piano keys resonate, and voices sing throughout a night of fun. Coins clink inside donation jars and people munch on food, heads bopping to the country music resounding throughout the ballroom.
Held on the third Thursday of every month, the Friends of Bluebonnet Opry gather a lineup of country artists to play for an evening in Brenham. The 14-year-old nonprofit organization hosts these concert-like evenings, open to the public, to raise funds for Hospice Brazos Valley, Brenham branch.
Formed in 1998 by Allison Crowson, the monthly shows were held at Brenham Fireman’s Training Center until Allison became an assistant principal at Brenham High School. Eunice Drews, the current president of the Friends of Bluebonnet Opry, aided the Opry from the beginning, watching the organization grow into a nonprofit run by dedicated individuals.
After Allison stepped down, Bill Harris ran the show until his passing, who was followed by Raymond and Erma Walker until Erma’s health prompted them to retire. After this, Eunice and Henry Drews took charge of the nonprofit organization in 2007 with a board made up of 17 volunteer members. She and her team work hard to make their monthly shows fun and attention-grabbing, mostly from their musical lineup, which the house band leader, Harris Kubos Sr., takes care of.
“One person just really can’t run the show,” Eunice says.
The opry is currently held at the Silver Wings ballroom in Brenham and doors open at 5:30pm. The entrance fee is $5 and the music begins at 7:30pm with a 20-minute intermission and ends at 10pm. Throughout the night, guests can sit back and enjoy the music, dance, and grab food at the snack bar. On average, the opry will have about 300 attendees. The Friends of Bluebonnet Opry also has door prizes during their monthly events donated by restaurants, merchants, or the opry regulars. Door prizes include things like gift certificates, jewelry, food baskets, plants, and crafts like Christmas wreaths from charitable individuals.
The March opry consists of Laurie Richardson from Livingston, Cody Rhodes from Cypress, Allison Crowson from Brenham, and the Opry House Band. In the past, Kubos has been able to book Tony Booth, Darrell McCall, Jake Hooker, Stephen Pride, David Church, and popular local artist David Lewis. Eunice encourages people to come out for a night of good entertainment and food consisting of hamburgers, hotdogs, homemade cakes and pies, and other snacks.
The Friends of Bluebonnet Opry is able to give $500 to $1,000 every three months to the local Hospice Brazos Valley, Brenham branch. “If we can give more, we do,” Eunice says.
At one point, the Friends of Bluebonnet Opry was making good numbers and donated as much as $6,000 one year. As of today, the nonprofit has donated more than $40,000 to hospice, which is a kindness some board members relate to directly.
It’s personal for Eunice because she had to use hospice for her husband who passed away three years ago in June. “I started with the opry 20 years ago; I’ve missed five opries in 20 years,” she shares.
Due to its growing size and requests from regulars, the opry plans special months. In May and October, the opry has polka shows because of the heavy Czech demographics in Brenham. Eunice says the polka shows average 400 people, which is a pretty full house. In September and in November, the opry has tribute performances like the Tony Booth show. From the positive feedback, Eunice aims to expand the age group and reach out to the younger crowd.
Eunice hopes the opry can grow a lot more in the next year, seeing a room of 400 people each night. Until then, the Friends of Bluebonnet Opry will continue to promote their monthly show as inexpensive and a nice night out. For more information, visit www.friendsofbluebonnetopry.com or call (979) 451-0816.
