Hannibal – Dorothy Rabondi got close, and she struck the chords of the wooden upright dulcimer under the direction of Judy Schmidt to create the “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” tune.
It’s Saturday’s 46th annual Folk Festival, and the day brings sunshine and crowds from all over the region. From the wafting smell of homemade soup and the sound of entertainers playing in the crowd, it’s a weekend of celebrating comfort food and strolling back in time to a different era.
Schmidt, her husband Carl, and their guitarist Gene Murray, both from Louisiana, Missouri, performed as buskers in front of the Mark Twain Museum. Their bass player was David Parish of La Belle, Missouri, whom Schmidt said went missing that day.
Schmidt said one of her favorite things to do is teach kids how to play. Just a few hours into the festival, she said dozens of children had already approached her to give it a try.
“It’s an instrument that they can approach, and when they start playing it, they’re always excited. Parents love to make videos,” she said.
The band, Judy Schmidt and Friends, was first approached by Micheal Gaines of the Hannibal Arts Council to perform on Folklife in 1994, and it has remained a tradition ever since.
“It’s the perfect place to play old-time music and square dance music, which is mostly what we play,” she said. “We also love that people stop and ask questions, they mainly want to learn about dulcimer.”
The instrument is a hammered dulcimer, and according to Schmidt, they date back to around 100 BC as a biblical instrument.
“Shadrack, Meshack and Abendigo, when they were in the fiery furnace, they heard the horns of the dulcimer,” she said. “It’s a very historic instrument, even though the older one would be much simpler. It’s evolved to be bigger and better, but it’s still a trapezoid box.”
In the 46 years of the Folk Festival, the 47th is already scheduled for October 21-22, 2023, and there are many traditions that have been passed down over the decades. One of them is food.
Over time, some vendors have become favorites of Hannibal folk life where people grew up. A recent post by the Courier-Post lists asking readers’ favorite folk favorites, including turkey legs, chicken and noodles, pork rinds, catfish sandwiches and cheese soup.
Cheese soup is a cherished tradition made every year at St. John’s Lutheran School, which was the recipient of this year’s Best in Show award in the food category. All proceeds from Cheese Soup go directly to the benefit of the school.
“Festival food vendors must be local citizens, churches, and nonprofits that give 100 percent of their profits back to our community through their respective organizational missions,” Folklife announced on Facebook.
For Steven and Dorothy LaBounty from St. Louis, folk life could become a new tradition. The couple had no idea that the weekend they chose to celebrate Steven’s birthday in Hannibal would be so busy.
“We come here once or twice a year, and today we wish we had downtown,” Dorothy said. “But it worked well and we had a lot of fun!”
