A LOVE FOR PATSY

Lina Adams (photo above) signs “Crazy” during a karaoke contest Saturday afternoon in the Patsy Cline Museum on North Loudoun Street. A “Hard Hat Tour” was offered over the weekend as Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. prepares the museum. Charlie Dick (at right in the photo below), Cline’s widower, talks with his childhood friend, John Kanatus, during Saturday’s program.

Photos by Scott Mason

by Daneesha R. Davis
The Winchester Star

At just 5 years old, Elaini Arthur came home from school one day with a love for Patsy Cline. “She heard a Patsy CD and it has been Patsy ever since,” said mom Christy Arthur. Elaini and her family drove from Pennsylvania Saturday to attend the preview opening weekend of the Celebrating Patsy Cline Museum.

Elaini also entered the museum’s karaoke contest Saturday, singing “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”

A grand opening by Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. for the museum at 134 N. Loudoun St. is planned for Labor Day weekend. Friday, there was a presentation of planned exhibits for the museum and a showing of a new Cline film, “Sweet Dreams Still.” Saturday, in addition to a Hard Hat Tour, Cline fans were invited to participate in a karaoke contest, and listen to J.D. Dawson and the Original Country Band. Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. President Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf said the response to the museum has been overwhelming.

“It’s something we have waited for for a long time,” she said. Although the museum’s walls are fairly bare now, it will soon be filled with Patsy memorabilia. A small gift shop in the front of the museum featured t-shirts, water, and other memorabilia showing Cline’s smiling face. The Hard Hat Tour is a glimpse into the future of the museum, Huyett-Kempf said. CPC recently hired the award-winning Ralph Appelbaum Associates to design exhibits inside the 7,000-square-foot space.

Bob Read is not much of a Cline fan, but he wanted to see what the museum was all about. “The important thing is to raise funds to get this thing started,” he added. Read said having a karaoke contest was a good idea because it generates interest in Cline.

“It’s great and it’s very exciting,” Teresa Bowers, a CPC board member, said about the museum. Bowers warmed up the mike, crooning two Cline songs before the karaoke contest. After the museum is completed, the organization will turn its attention toward remodeling the Kent Street home where Cline lived for five years.

CPC recently acquired the home last month. “It’s great that Winchester finally gets something like this, especially for out-of-towners,” said Maria Price, a singer in the karaoke contest.

Alletta Beebe Smith has been performing Cline’s music since her teenage years. Beebe-Smith said she loved the sincerity in Cline’s songs. “You can tell the songs she sings, she’s lived, and I feel like I have too,” she said. As for the museum, Beebe-Smith said it was fantastic. “It has been in people’s hearts and minds, so it has been here all along,” she said. “This is just the three-dimensional version.”