Le Mars, Iowa Hosts a Larger-Than-Life Christmas - Part One!
I just came home tonight from the most FUN weekend with childhood friends in Le Mars, Iowa! It was awesome! My dear friends Sandy and Michelle I’ve known since we were all three in Mrs. Betty’s Sunday School class. I won’t say how long ago that was, but let’s just say we’ve known each other for a while. 😉
We all arrived at our accommodations within about two minutes of each other, which was an early predictor of a weekend that simply just “clicked.” Le Mars is a town of about 10,000 people about 20 miles north of Sioux City, Iowa. For a smaller town, it packs a HUGE punch at the holidays. I will include our schedule so you can envision how much fun you can enjoy this time of year in Le Mars.
Saturday morning - My friend Michelle made French toast and scrambled eggs and we caught up on life events.
Noonish - We jumped in the car and drove around town spying beautiful houses, many with wrap-around porches and unique historical features.
We parked near Main Street and went to the Brown Family Theater and Gift Shop. The shop was full of beautiful items that would make wonderful gifts for any occasion, plus homemade chocolates and candies to die for. Yum!!! The gift shop was pretty busy with bus tour participants so we browsed for a few minutes and then went into the theater to find our seats, the last three seats available together (booked about a month ago). So, word to the wise, book tickets as early as possible! We had tickets to a 1:30 matinee.
The musical variety show exceeded my expectations about 100 times over! The Browns are a local Le Mars farming family with four adult children. When they were all kids, their mom taught the two boys and two girls four part harmony on the many twelve-mile drives into town. She also took them all to violin lessons for years. Now three of the four adult children and their mom put on a holiday show to remember! Music styles included pop, country, classical, religious contemporary, gospel, and good old holiday favorites. Violins and occasionally other instruments are included. The pace was fabulous, the costumes and backgrounds sparkly, and the atmosphere just plain fun. The two brothers banter back and forth with perfect comedic timing. I was toe-tapping, seat-dancing and laughing the whole show. My two friends and I enjoyed it tremendously! After all, the Browns have performed all over the world and have long-running shows in Branson, Missouri. In fact, they have a million miles on their not-so-fancy tour bus. The thing I liked the best, though, was that their success has not changed their down-to-earth personalities and their work ethics. They were available to greet guests after the show and I saw the mom working in the gift shop. I talked to the dad (farmer, but working in the sound and lights booth), and he was just as friendly as a person could get and gave me permission to use photos and quick video clips from the show for this blog. Did I also mention the show was very reasonably-priced and lasted almost two hours, including a short intermission? Trust me, the music and comedy was just as good as anything I’ve seen at the CHI Arena in Omaha or the Civic Center in Des Moines or Chicago…or many other places I’ve been. It’s a doggone bargain. 💵💵💵
The bad news - the holiday shows are almost all sold out for this year, but…
Good news - they have a New Year’s Eve show this year and do new and different themed shows at different times of year. Check out their website for more information and make plans to see a show!
https://thebrownstheater.com/
Little Drummer Boy
Notice they are playing the next person’s violin! That’s family togetherness!