Remember the old days when quartets used to "run the crowd" with a special record offer? I'm old enough to remember those times. Come to think of it, I'm old enough to even have participated in a few!
You rarely see such a thing nowadays, but there are still a few groups who will laden down their members with as many bags as they can carry and walk the aisles to deliver their goods to hands that are waving twenty-dollar bills high in the air. Some people may think this practice is shameless marketing while others may think it gives a carnival atmosphere to a concert.
But no matter what they may think, it still helps pay the bills.
Anyway, I was visiting with Randy Shelnut of the Dixie Echoes recently and as we talked, our conversation steered toward the annual Bonifay (Florida) sing. Once a huge event in Southern Gospel, the concert has had ups and downs in recent years, but with the move in-doors in 2008, there seems to be a rekindling of interest from both fans and artists.
And at one time, there was no better place to "run the crowd" than grand ole Bonifay. After all, with several thousand people crammed together on a football field and in the bleachers on the side, there was a seemingly unlimited supply of record buyers just waiting to see what a group had to offer.
In the 60's and 70's, most of the groups who performed on the Bonifay event HAD to "run the crowd" to be able to have a good sales night. But since the practice had become so commonplace, everyone was always thinking of how to top his or her fellow artists.
I think the following incident takes first prize.
Randy thinks the year was either 1975 or 1976. At that time, the Dixie Echoes were, no doubt, one of the hottest groups in Southern Gospel music, and Dale Shelnut was considered one of the greatest singers on the circuit. Randy was also in the group - but he was also a student airplane pilot.
Do you see where this might be headed?
The Dixie Echoes hatched the idea that instead of working up a sweat under an unforgiving Bonifay sun, they would drop pre-printed flyers that offered super deals at the Dixie Echoes record table - as long as the buyer had one of the flyers. Taking it a step further, the flyers had such a look that people would think they were dollar bills at first glance.
Sooo...imagine the excitement when someone looked up and thought they saw dollar bills falling from the sky...
Waiting until the moment that the stadium would be completely filled with fans, Randy and a fellow licensed pilot took off from a nearby airstrip with a bag full of those flyers. As the pilot neared the stadium, Randy opened the little plane's door and dropped his cargo.
Randy says his dad was standing at the record table, looking up into the sky and watching the plane approach. Dale couldn't wait to see this. And, according to Randy, Dale later told him it looked just like a big green cloud descending on the field.
I don't know if you ever attended the Bonifay sing when it was held in the stadium, but in all the years I was there, I can't remember a single event that had anything that even resembled a breeze.
Neither could the Dixie Echoes.
The flyers were about 1000 feet above the stadium when a big gust of wind blew every one of them east. Not a single one made it to the field.
Never ones to give up, however, the group had the forethought to have extra flyers for later events. After Randy had returned to the stadium, he and his dad conferred and decided that they would try it again in about an hour - when the winds calmed down (I'm not sure 10 seconds of slightly moving air constitutes wind in Bonifay).
One hour later, the air was as still as it could be. Randy headed back to airport with the other pilot and once again they flew over the stadium. Once again, Randy opened the airplane's door and dropped flyers to the unsuspecting fans below.
For second time that night, a sudden gust of wind moved a big green cloud away from the field.
The Dixie Echoes decided they'd be better off just singing.
But there is more to this story...
Chipley, Fla., is about 10 miles east of Bonifay. For several days after the Bonifay sing, people kept finding Dixie Echoes record offers in their yards and fields.
