Fun Returns At Beaver Dam Jam

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

The Beaver Dam Station and Bar hosted another Beaver Dam Jam Festival last weekend. Live bands performed throughout the weekend on an outdoor stage and on an indoor stage inside the bar located at 402 Co Hwy 91 in Beaver Dam, Arizona.

Integral to the Beaver Dam tradition, there was also lawnmower races held on Saturday, May 8 in an area just a short distance from the bar. This has become the family fun highlight of the entire weekend.
“It was my first time doing these races, but I had so much fun!” exclaimed Kim Kobylarz of Beaver Dam. “I even won my heat.”

Kobylarz was happy to chat about the racing experience, along with fellow competitor Robert Wingert who had just got nudged back to finish 2nd behind Kobylarz.

“The weather was just perfect for the races and almost all weekend, except for the wind on Friday,” Wingert said.

Throughout all the fun, there were local vendors and food trucks gathered at the station to provide shopping experiences for unique items to festival-goers

“There were massive crowds, tons during the weekend; especially on Saturday,” stated local resident Val Simondi. “It has been a most needed and amazing event.”

Simondi was enjoying Sunday afternoon at the Jam, with her husband Al, and friends Dawn Hocks, Wendy Lyons, and Denise Hollinder. They were seated in the shade just outside of the bar, listening to one of their favorite bands for the weekend, Vinyl Fusion.

“This was needed since there wasn’t (a Beaver Dam Jam event) last year and they have done some great things here at the bar,” Simondi said.

Simondi was referring to the recently renovated Beaver Dam Bar. The room is now more open with a bigger and themed performance stage. The place holds triple the number of people that it once did.

“They really opened things up and it looks great,” stated Tammy Houchen, lead singer of Vinyl Fusion which is based out of St. George, Utah. “I am very pleased to be back up and running! We love this bar and it is one of our favorite places.”

Vinyl Fusion, along with Reciprocity, were the crowd favorites for the weekend. Vinyl Fusion includes Houchen, Tom Fault, Brad Dalorf, and Dave Spencer with Vietnam Veteran Mark Allred. Allred has played at the Beaver Dam Bar consistently for 27 years and 4th Festival performance as part of Vinyl Fusion. The band brought in over 100 people (about 60 within the bar) to the festival on Sunday alone.
The vendors and food trucks were a first at the festival this year. “It is so good they added them this year,” said Houchens.

The vendor “Cabin Classics” reported a healthy profit from sales during the weekend as they provided homemade soaps, healing lotion sticks, tye-dye clothing, apparel, and more.

Also, the Desert Rose Church had a vendors station with donated yard sale items and gemstones to provide funding for the church.

The Red Wagon Food Truck was present with the best Beaver Burger. People were satisfied and enthusiasm filled the air as the normalcy of living life returned to the small rural area.
“We can’t wait for next year’s Jam,” said Houchens at the end of the celebration.