BROWNSTOWN — Fairgoers could take a step back in time Monday evening as they listened to the musical stylings of the Soldiers’ Joy String Band at the Antique Building stage or strolled through the building itself.
Band member Larry Wayt, a Jackson County native, said they call themselves Soldiers’ Joy to honor the old fiddle tunes and the genre of music it represents.
“There are various tales and theories of what soldiers’ joy actually was,” Wayt said. “We like to think it was the brief escape from the hardships and terror of war.”
He said the moments spent around the campfire in the evening listening to the music and dreaming of better times, both in the past and in the future, that is what soldiers’ joy means to the band.
Members may vary from one performance to the next but include Wayt, who serves as a spokesman, Eric Jarboe, Jim Wendel, Bill Davenport, John Heichelbech, David Craig, Sally Old Barret, Marilyn Craig and Brittany Anne Jennings.
Playing at the fair Monday evening along with Wayt, who now lives in Richmond and is a vocalist and guitarist, were Jarboe, who lives in North Vernon and played hammer dulcimer; Heichelbech, who lives in Columbus, playing the mandolin; and Bob Jennings of Versailles on the upright bass.
“We are some old-time country musicians, and we all enjoy this type of music,” Wayt said. “We have the opportunity to play occasionally, and we’re not really a band because we never rehearse. We just show up and play depending on who’s available.”
Band members live in Kentucky and throughout Indiana, and some are 150 miles apart, so it would be difficult for them to get together to practice.
Wayt, who was born and raised in Freetown by his parents, Glen and Wilma Wayt, didn’t start playing music until he was in his 50s.
“We just enjoy playing this type of music, and it’s Americana-type music,” he said. “It’s the kind of music I grew up with, and I’m 72 years old.”
Wayt said it’s the kind of music they used to play on the front porch when he was a kid and at his grandma’s house on a Sunday afternoon.
“We play various places and one of those is at the historical society in Brownstown for the eighth-graders,” he said. “We play Civil War songs for them and take a moment to tell them the history about the Civil War and how important music was to the soldiers.”
The soldiers were in camp most of the time with not a lot to do, so if a guy had a fiddle or a harmonica and played some music, that could really help lighten the mood, Wayt said.
“I’ve been coming to the Jackson County Fair for probably about 70 years, but not as part of the music group,” he said. “I’m fortunate to play with such talented musicians, and I believe they have a good time, and I think the audience has a good time.”
Wayt said he loves looking out and seeing people smile, and knowing their music put those smiles there is wonderful.
Soldiers’ Joy String Band played for a short time Monday evening until the skies opened up and the rained poured down, forcing them to take a break until the weather cleared up and allowed then to continue performing.
One of the audience members enjoying the music was Dave Fish from Spraytown. He said he is related to Wayt.
“I see him on Facebook all the time, and we’re related on my mother’s side,” Fish said. “I like the music, and so far, it’s like the same kind of music I play with one of my other cousins.”
Fish said he and Larry Weddle play at some local nursing homes and assisted living centers.
Just across from the stage is the Antique Building with this year’s theme, “Sharing Memories of People, Places and Things.”
Betty McCleery of Seymour was in the building seated in her lawn chair, listening to Soldiers’ Joy and doing some people watching.
“I usually come to the fair to get something to eat and some ice cream,” McCleery said. “So my favorite part of the fair is getting food and seeing the people, and sometimes, you can see people you haven’t seen for a long time.”
The building was filled with memorabilia, including an antique firetruck — a 1925 Model T 1-ton owned by Jeff and Doris Bond — and a motorcycle from the Indiana State Police.
There were scenes from the past set up, including an old-time bedroom, a one-room schoolhouse and a Stuckwish Family Farms vegetable stand, complete with farm-help mannequins.
Display cases were full of antique dishes, old valentines, gunpowder horns and gunpowder flasks, and a case with toys from different decades, including Pound Puppies, Smurfs and more, were drawing in not only the children for a closer look but their parents.
One woman was overheard telling her son she used to have a Teddy Ruxpin like the one in the case.
Brad Herndon, 80, of Brownstown, who was at the fair with his wife, Carol, 78, visited the Antique Building.
“We were sitting outside eating by the fish stand and it started lightning and raining a little bit, so we came over here,” Carol said.
Brad is an outdoor photographer and writer but hated English in school and wasn’t a reader, he said with a laugh.
“In the Antique Building, we like looking at the wall that has photos from the different townships to see how many people we know,” he said. “We come to the fair every day, and if the fair’s on a bad day, we come over and get as close as we can to the fairgrounds and we walk on the property. Then we get in our car and head out.”
Brad said they can say they’ve been to the fair every day. Even in 2020 when the fair wasn’t open, they visited the fairgrounds each day and even stopped by the food stands they normally go to.
Susie Meier was looking at the wall of photos from Jackson County’s 12 townships.
She lives in Seymour but was looking at photos from Grassy Fork and Brownstown townships because her mother’s family was from those two townships.
“These photos are very nice to see,” Meier said. “My three favorite places to visit at the fair are the Antique Building, 4-H Building and Family Arts.”
Located behind the Antique Building, the annex features “Christmas from the Past.” Fairgoers can experience a winter wonderland with a display of Santa and his sleigh, and it wouldn’t be complete without the Nativity scenes.
Despite the rain, the Antique Building and music from yesteryear were a nice blast from the past for fairgoers on Monday.