The Symphony in the Flint Hills’ Signature Event has, in a lot of ways, remained true to what inspired the organization’s annual event, when Jane Koger hosted a “Symphony on the Prairie” in 1994 to celebrate her birthday and commemorate her mother. Twenty years since the inaugural event in 2006, families from across the state and country gathered Saturday in a Chase County pasture to admire, learn about and celebrate what the Flint Hills has to offer.
After a two-decade-long run of staging a symphony concert in an off-the-beaten-path location of tallgrass pastures and rolling green hills, Symphony in the Flint Hills hosted its “Grand Finale.” With it ending after this year, Matt Lynch of Wichita said that it won’t be easily replaced.
“Just the opportunity for everyone to come together like this, in this kind of location,” he said, holding back tears. “When this goes away, it’s just kind of one more thing, you know, from the Flint Hills that goes away.”
The nearly 8,000 attendees enjoyed an afternoon of music, educational talks, prairie walks and “Roping with the Outriders,” with the culmination of a concert by the Kansas City Symphony and a guest performance by Clearwater native, Logan Mize.
This event had naturally run its course, according to its organizers, but they are asking for suggestions for a potential new event.
The once-a-year experience bonds people together and forms a sense of family, whether they’re related or not. That family can look like strangers sharing a straw bale as a means to rest their feet, to the mother and son running around the site to ensure it’s going smoothly, to the thousands of people singing “Home on the Range” in unison as the sun dips under the horizon.
“Everybody’s here for the same reasons,” said Lynch, who has attended the event six times. “And so, it’s kind of nice to see that. So yeah, it does feel like a family of everybody sitting around with these uncomfortable straw bales and listening to music or speeches.”
Sue Evans, who drove with her daughter and grandson from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, to attend the final event, said the experience was awesome.
“I think it’s so important that families do things like this together and enjoy nature,” she said.
Symphonic performances are usually experienced in concert halls, away from Kansas’ mid-June heat and humidity. But at this event, audience members brave miles of gravel roads leading up to the site just east of Strong City, walk through the tallgrass prairie to get to the entrance and sit in lawn chairs, if they brought them, on the ground or perhaps on one of the straw bales that mark the seating area.
“And everyone’s willing to do it,” Lynch said. “Nobody complains … it really does feel that way (like family), without the dysfunction.”
The Evans family, unrelated to Sue and her family, hosted the event for a second consecutive year — last year in Greenwood County at the Evans’ Red Ranch and this year on a piece of land they own in Chase County, the same county where the event started in 2006.
Kelly Tastove, operations manager for Symphony in the Flint Hills, said that the Evans’ unwavering support for the organization’s mission keeps them involved.
“They’ve been to this event probably every year,” Tastove said. “I don’t know that for sure, but they love it. Their hearts are into it.”
Some families are formed at the event outside of their bloodline. Tastove said that seeing the patrons and sponsors she works with year-round to make sure the event happens is like “a family reunion.”
“This is the one time of year I get to see them,” she said. “And there are a lot of people that are like that. This is the one time of year they get together.”
And for the Tastoves, the family connections run even deeper. Kelly has worked for the organization since the beginning, and her son has grown up with it.
Brad, Kelly’s son and lead of site support, said it’s been hard for him to grasp that it’s the last event. The 27-year-old has helped make it run for 14 years.
“We’ve been doing this for 20 years … but somehow we did it,” he said. “And it’s a high note to hang our hats on and let it be. Not let it die, but just like, ‘Man, we did good.’ I hope this isn’t the last one. However, if it is, it’ll be tears of joy. It won’t be tears of sadness.”
Editor’s note: This story was reported and written as part of the Flint Hills Media Project, an 11-year experience-based learning project through the Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State University.