Fairview Jammers enter 10th year of entertaining
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That’s because performers with the group are entering their 10th year of providing a dose of comedy skits based upon popular songs to the Irving College community, and it seems like everyone from the area is involved.
This year, as holiday events get under way across the county, the group will be doing what it has been doing for a decade — entertaining during Fourth of July festivities at the Fairview CIC in a performance that leaves the auditorium standing room only.
“We are just a bunch of misfits,” said Fairview Jammer and one of the show’s coordinators, Nancy Rhea, who said regular people get up the nerve to don costumes and act out songs sung by popular stars in front of the audience, which is often comprised of friends, families and neighbors.
“We pantomime and lip synch – whether it’s ’50s, ’60s, country or whatever. We just do this for fun and we try to look like who we’re portraying,” she added.
Most of the Fairview Jammers have been involved with organizing and participating in the show for its entire 10 years. Rhea’s family alone has three generations of performers, including her mother, Bobbie Boyd, and daughter, Megan Rhea.
Between 30 and 50 performers of all ages and genders have performed with the Fairview Jammers at different times. The group has performed at events as far away as Sparta, Tracy City, the Beersheba Craft Fair and as close as the Warren County Fair. But it seems Fairview CIC has been their favorite venue.
“We just have a lot of fun with it and we have a lot of older folks who come to the show who really enjoy what we do and we like entertaining them,” Rhea said.
“Since we can’t be stars of our own, we can pretend to be up there,” added fellow Fairview Jammer, Brenda Blocker, who said the roots of the Fairview Jammers are in a local school where Rhea, Blocker and a few friends provided entertainment for a talent show.
“We worked at Irving College school and we thought it would be fun to start lip-synching some of the older songs, so we got hooked with it,” Blocker said.
They learned entertainment was needed at the CIC over the Fourth and provided it at the request of June McGee, who is also a Fairview Jammer and a show coordinator.
“Every year, we just kept adding on,” said Blocker, who provides much of the clothing for the performances along with Boyd, who has been involved with the CIC for more than 30 years.
This year, the Fairview Jammers will be the final act of Fourth festivities before the fireworks show, beginning their act at 5:30 p.m. at Fairview CIC.
Performances can last between one and three hours. For this year, they wouldn’t say if they were planning something special to celebrate their 10 years of performances within the community, saying it would be a surprise.
One thing’s for certain, however. They aim to please.
“We have several who come to every show, even when we’ve been to other places, they followed us,” said Fairview Jammer Malinda Brown.
“We want them to be happy. We want to make them laugh,” Rhea added of their goals for each performance.
“We guarantee fun. It’s a family show,” McGee added.
PHOTO INFO:
The Fairview Jammers are celebrating their 10th year of providing holiday entertainment during the Fourth of July and often include members of the community in the acts. Pictured wrapping up a past show with the song “God Bless the USA” are from left, Randy England, Teresa Lawrence, Sue Taylor, Tyler Clark, Michelle Hill, Bruce Boyd, Fred Hillis and David Smartt. (Photo provided)