The band Mr. Hyde had the folks kicking up their heels during the Tenth Annual Beaver Dam Jam held at the Beaver Dam Station the weekend of May 5-7. Photo by Teri Nehrenz
Once again, Bill Evans brings great fun, great music and even a great race or two to the Beaver Dam community. On Friday May 5 Sleep Dealer took the lead for the three day music fest known for the past 10 years as the Beaver Dam Jam. This year Aaron and Bonnie kicked off the weekend a bit early and hit the bar on Thursday night to prime the early birds for the weekend. The biggest draw to the Jam each year, according to almost everyone in the crowd, is by far the three day line-up of local and semi-local bands that come to entertain the masses.
Saturday brought about a large crowd of people ready to soak up the sunshine, food and fun. The day began with the traditional lawn mower races and continued through the day with several bands from Utah, Arizona and California. Vendors selling t-shirts, jewelry and other miscellaneous items set up, free of charge, to sell their wares to the partying crowd.
The Saturday morning lawnmower races drew a slightly smaller crowd than it had in years prior but the excitement was no less from the smaller masses. Cheers erupted each time the green flag was brought down beginning the race and continued until the checkered dropped on the winner.
It has been tradition for several years to kick off the Beaver Dam Jam with some exciting lawn mower racing. Driver Jeremiah shows the crowd a bit of what his super modified machine can do. Photo by Teri Nehrenz
The track is looking good these days the Beaver Dam Lawnmower Racing Association has made some wonderful improvements to the track adding several safety features including fencing and hay bales to keep the lawnmowers from going off the course and into the crowd.
There was a little trouble with the super modified lawnmowers which were driven by Hippie and Jeremiah. During the line-up Jeremiah had a bit of trouble getting his machine to go into gear and just as he fixed his issue Hippie’s machine got a little testy and never did buck up during the first race. Jeremiah, not wanting to disappoint the fans, gave them a show anyway. While Hippie limped his mower back to the sidelines Jeremiah revved up his engine and did a few quick donuts to kick up a little dust. After an afternoon at the races the crowd gathered by the bands.
Temperatures during the last weekend of May have been in triple digits in years gone by but this year’s thermometer reflected slightly more manageable numbers. This year the jam was also held a few weeks earlier so jammers were able to sit back and chill under the awning while they listened to some Old Time Rock-N-Roll along with other genres of music.
Even with the Mesquite Days competition, the Beaver Dam Jam drew record crowds and continues to grow each year. From Aaron and Bonnie in the bar on Thursday to El Dub on Sunday afternoon, Evans brought in folks from near and far for the weekend blowout. The crowd enjoyed a variety of music from 18 different bands and for the tenth year in a row, Beaver Dam Jammed.
