The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Five months and counting until the 99th annual Haxtun Corn Festival slated for Saturday, Sept. 26 in downtown Haxtun. This year's event will honor Grand Marshal Carol Scheel, a life-long Haxtun resident. Event organizers also announced an all new line up of entertainment for the evening concert.

Scheel, who received several nominations for this year's honor, is a graduate of Haxtun School and is most often seen in the parade with her classmates or riding through on her decorated golf cart. She was nominated for her unwavering support of Bulldog sports and Haxtun youth. Continue to watch future editions of the Herald for more on Scheel's Grand Marshal honor as Corn Festival nears.

The streets of Haxtun will be bustling with action on the last Saturday in September when community members, family, friends and alumni gather for the annual Corn Festival event. This year's theme will celebrate, "Wide Open Spaces."

About the band

The 99th Corn Festival event concert will feature music from the Emmett Bower Band from Lincoln, Neb. featuring rock influenced alternative country music. The group, who originated in 2010, consists of a tight four-piece group, creating the foundation for the group's unique sound including Jeffrey Emmett Bower, acoustic/electric guitars, lead vocals; Blake Beiermann, electric guitar; Troy Johnson, bassjo/electric bass/upright bass; and Matty Sanders, drums/percussion.

In 2010, mild-mannered Jeffrey Emmett Bower was recording a small studio project under the direction and guidance of drummer and sound engineer Matty Sanders. Fiddler and innocent bystander Josh Rector was called in to play on a single recording when the unexpected occurred. What started off as a simple musical experiment resulted in a freak scientific accident that imbued Jeffrey with superhuman abilities, such as being able to fly faster than a speeding earthworm, to crush tall beer cans with a single bound, and most importantly, to start a rock and roll band: thus, the Emmett Bower Band was formed.

Courtesy photo

THE EMMETT Bower Band from Lincoln, Neb. has been chosen for this year's evening entertainment.

Nearly four years and two albums later, the high-performance caliber of the Emmett Bower Band is still a testament to its home-grown roots; the truck and trailer hauling the powerful five-piece electric collaboration still hearkens to the days of just a guitarist and a fiddler in a tiny Jeep. The addition of Troy Johnson (bass) and "Guitar George" Laughery (guitars) enhances both of those qualities, making EBB an outfit that permeates generational gaps and shatters the limitations set by both modern and traditional country music.

Along with boasting a wide repertoire of original music and cover songs at shows across Nebraska and beyond, the band also shared the stage with acts such as Jason Boland, Gloriana, Whiskey Myers, Randy Rogers, Thomas Rhett, Jon Pardi, Roger Creager, Bart Crow, Jackson Taylor, Sonia Leigh, No Justice and more.

Additionally, EBB original music is celebrated on central Nebraska radio, with songs like "Lakin'" and newest single "The Main Attraction" gaining more and more attention as the weeks go by.

For more information about the 2020 Haxtun Corn Festival, contact Haxtun Chamber of Commerce Director Jenn Molina at (970) 467-0194.