Prospect Eats on Monday evenings

The weekly Prospect Eats event seems to be a hit, starting its second year (I think).  They had some bad luck last month when their first two scheduled evenings of 2013 had to be canceled due to late spring snow storms.   The winning combination appears to be food trucks plus live music plus beer, mixing in lawn chairs, dogs, and kids.  It's much easier for Prospect to pull this off, given that it takes place in a private park and no permitting is needed.

Popular Wendy Woo was playing on Memorial Day:

 

A Longmont Hidden Treasure: The Bertolin Barn

Located about seven miles northeast of Longmont is the Bertolin Barn, which is a gem of a place to see live music. I had mentioned this venue last year when it first opened with a different name, and I finally got to see a show out there. Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams brought their brand of honky-tonk there last night to a packed barn. (Halden is also an author and illustrator of a book reviewed here a few years ago).

The Hi-Beams on stage at the Bertolin Barn:


Jim Bertolin is the banjo player in the Stanleytones, and he built the barn partially out of materials moved from a Longmont historic barn, located at 9th Avenue and County Line Road. You can read about its construction and history here.

The view from the Barn's neat balcony, during intermission:

Some notes if you're interested in attending a show out there:

• It's BYO; bring a smaller cooler if you'd like. Some folks bring a bottle of wine and some glasses. Bring a driver, of course, if you BYO.
  
  
• Their permit only allows a certain number of events a year, so there won't be shows every weekend. Check the schedule.
  
  
• It seats about 140, and there is a dance area to the left of the stage. The sound is perfect! It fills the barn nicely but it's not too loud.
  
  
• Families of all ages are common, in the audience.
  
  
• There is a small concession area, that sells popcorn among other things.
  
  
• Again, likely because of the permit, shows start on time there (7:30 yesterday evening) and they finish around 10:00, with an intermission.
  

I do think Longmont has a dearth of live music venues and options, and that we are far behind our neighboring towns of Lyons and Loveland in this area. On the positive side, I did read recently about the Dickens Opera House, and we're very lucky to have the Bertolin Barn in our neighborhood.