June 26, 2010 is the Date for a New Festival

• Mark June 26, 2010 as the date for a new bluegrass festival being held in the community of Fort Ransom, ND, south of Valley City. The festival will be held at the community ball park. Monroe Crossing and the Johnson Family band have been hired to perform with more to be added.

New North String Band at Mandan, November 14, 2009

Saturday November 14th the New North String Band from Eau Claire, Wisconsin will be in Mandan, ND at the Mysteria Theater for an evening concert at 7:00 pm. This hard-driving 5-piece bluegrass band is on the return leg of a South and North Dakota tour, heading home.

The band was a headliner at the Missouri River Bluegrass Festival at Cross Ranch State Park this past June where they made many new fans and friends. Their sharp dressing set them apart from the rest of the performers.

Evie Andrus recently caught up with Jake Henry, band leader, lead vocalist, and mandolin player for the group.

EA: “Jake, great to see you’re coming back to North Dakota. What were your impressions when you played the festival this summer?”

JH: "It was great; we loved the (Link) cabin and all the friendly people that we met."

EA: “What do you think about coming back?”

JH: "We are happy to be getting out into the Dakotas, to see friends we made this summer and have fun playing for some new people too. We know Minnesota and Wisconsin pretty well so it is fun to be playing in North Dakota."

EA: “You were saying your recent CD has won some awards.”

JH: “The CD we had at Cross Ranch was our first recording and was only a couple weeks old at that time. Since then four of those songs have gone on to win awards:
"River Bottom Blues"- National Americana Compilation CD
"Liquor and Love"- 3rd place in a songwriting competition in Wisconsin
"Nine Miles Lonesome"- Top 10 in a national songwriting competition
"Billy in the Lowground" (vocal) - 1st place at the Winfield songwriting competition in the general category which had over 100 entries and we got to perform the song on stage.”

More info on the group can be found at www. thenewnorthstringband.com

You will want to make a reservation for the concert and meal (701-663-2900). The Mysteria Restaurant and Dinner Theater is becoming a great venue to host bluegrass concerts. The building, constructed in 1936, served the community by showing Hollywood films for many years from the 1930's on. The building has served a few other businesses since.

The new restaurant boasts a talented chef (Tyler) who has designed menus for both quick & casual or fine dining. You can get a quick lunch or a fantastic romantic dinner in the facility Wednesday through Saturday.

The theater is active with entertainment on the weekends or by special reservation. In the month that this project has been open, the theater has already hosted area corporations, associations, and private parties of all sizes. Come on out and support the music!