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Wade Henry tapped as featured performer for Good Ol' Days fest
Although the event is still a few months away, organizers of the 30th Annual Good Ol' Days celebration have already chosen the Wade Henry Show as the featured event for the annual street festival, scheduled for June 4-5.
Building on the popularity of the Dock Dogs in 2008, the Budweiser Clydesdales in 2009, and the All-American Lumberjack Show last year, Good Ol' Days organizers are bringing the Wade Henry Show to the Skubitz Plaza area in front of the Fort Scott National Historic Site all day on Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5.
Henry will perform four shows on Saturday and two shows on Sunday, and will also appear in the Good Ol' Days parade on Friday, June 3.
Janet Braun, a member of the festival's steering committee and special events committee, said the special events committee searches each year for possible acts that are family-oriented and would be "crowd-pleasers."
"Wade Henry was recommended to us," she said. "He does a lot of interaction with crowds. The main thing that impressed us was his interaction with the audience ... We were looking for someone that families can enjoy."
Henry was born in Manitoba, Canada, and it was there he started training for his profession as a performing artist. He is an accomplished juggler, unicyclist, ropewalker, fire-eater, equilibrist, magician, speaker and comic.
He has performed as a world-class street performer, delivering his shows on the streets, town squares and harbor-front areas of various Australian and Canadian cities, a news release said. His travels as a performer are partially documented in his popular adventure novel, "The Greatest Finale."
Henry and his wife, Helen, have six children.
The family has lived in Clearwater, Fla., since 1997. Wade and Helen continue to operate Ability Entertainment, the company that books shows for Wade's act, as well as several other entertainers.
Over the past 12 years, the Wade Henry Show has become phenomenally popular with fairs, festivals and rodeos. Henry has performed more than 6,000 shows and continues to entertain audiences today, the release said.
Organizers said some new, live bands will also be part of this year's Good Ol' Days festival. Braun said a new carnival company has also been booked this year, Pride Amusements of Galena. It will be larger than shows in past years and will offer more rides, she said.
This year's entire celebration will be dedicated to the late Becky Weddle, a founding member of Good Ol' Days and former president and chairwoman of the event -- a position she held at the time of her death.
Organizers also plan to meet soon to decide ways to commemorate the 30th year of the long-standing event.
The festival's website, www.fortscottgoodoldays.com, features updated activities as well as all application forms for vendors. The 2011 scheduled of activities will be posted on the site by mid-April.