Quackgrass/Costabella/WMO Reunion

What is the Quackgrass / Costabella / Wheatland Gathering?

The annual QUACKGRASS/COSTABELLA CLOGGER/WMO REUNION is just like your best summertime

family reunion in the park, except for it’s being held the SECOND SATURDAY of February at the

Gladys Wernette Lodge at Wheatland, 7251 50th Ave, Remus, MI. One difference is the winter

sports opportunities, like snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. And maybe the music will be better.

There is always a BIG POTLUCK at 6:00 PM, but the DOINGS start at 2 o’clock. Bring a dish to pass,

your table service and something with which to keep your whistle wet.

If you are one who dreams of becoming a kitchen musician this is the music party for you. Surely

your curiosity will be piqued because singers will be alternately ripping out hearts, stomping on them,

cleaning up the mess, re-installing those hearts full of life and hope, and so it goes. For you

wannabe piano players there will be three pianos in use all night long. This is for you serious

wannabe, of course.

If you are more light-hearted you might enjoy the room full of fiddles, mandolins, guitars and

banjoes, playing all the dance melodies ever invented by the Norse and their kissing cousins, the

Souse. There will be gut-wrenching slow airs, hopeful hornpipes, perkifying polkas, rolling reels

and rils, as well as many warm, knee-weakening waltzes. Usually a schottische will be concocted,

too. The good ship S.S. QGCBCWMO will sail far into the February night. (Safety goggles are

recommended if you plan to join the fiddlers.)

Its all good, clearn fun, and mores the fun with clearn, smooth-soled shoes for dancing. But

many shoe styles, such as clodhoppers, can be used for the percussive clogging. The food will

be supremely edible and the humor will be tear-jerkingly humorous. (You might need a hankie.)

The music will be other-worldly. (You might want a pillow.)

It is worth noting that membership in this family is made possible only by our physical attendance.
You will be joined by folks from Harbor Springs in the north and Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor in the

south, by some from Saginaw and Bay City in the east and Grand Rapids and White Cloud to the

wild west. Close-by they come from Big Rapids, Farwell, Titus, Horr, Weidman and Mt. Pleasant.

From Leaton, Kerosene Junction, Shepherd, Ithace, Crystal, Morley, Millbrook and Mecosta. And

don’t forget Anchorage or Zephyr Hills.

If you have been thinking about attending this Music and People Party just do it. Plan on it. Be a

party to the party. Don’t miss it. Why wait another year? And if you are lucky you might have an

extra day, President’s Day, to get re-oriented to your place in the rat race.

By: Bruce Bauman