Members of the Golden Club, sponsored by Hamilton Baptist Church in Hamilton, stop at Patsy Cline’s grave in Shenandoah Memorial Park Tuesday morning while on a trip to Winchester. Devoted fans of Patsy Cline regularly visit areas of Winchester that are connected to the singer. The largest of these gatherings, organized by the Always Patsy Cline fan club, usually meets during the Labor Day weekend, but this year the group will “take a break,” according to Charlie Dick of Nashville, husband of the late country legend.

Photo by Scott Mason

Winchester — For the first time in 20 years, the Always Patsy Cline fan club will not meet here during the Labor Day weekend.

“We’re taking a break,” said Charlie Dick of Nashville, husband of the late country legend and Winchester native, in a recent phone interview. “We haven’t deserted Winchester, but we’re trying to come up with something new.”

The reasons for the break in the annual festivities include financial considerations for some of the members who make the yearly trip.

“For some people, money is tight this year,” Dick said, citing the high cost of gas and the distance some of the fans drive.

“We’re not mad at anybody and nobody is mad at us,” he added. “We haven’t deserted Winchester. We will probably be back next year.”

Another complication this year is the venue where many fan club members stayed, he said.

The Holiday Inn on U.S 50 east of Winchester will be in transition as the motel moves Sept. 9 to a new location, nearby on U.S. 522.

“We will miss them,” said Susie Smith, director of marketing for the hotel. “The staff is very fond of them. It’s like a yearly visit from friends.”

The present hotel site will become a Quality Inn under the management of the Aikens Group, according to Jason Aikens, vice president of operations.

“We have not been contacted [by the fan club],” he said, but added that the company has four other locations in Frederick County where the group could stay and gather for meetings.

A member of the fan club since it started, Bill Madigan of Frederick County has hosted the fan club picnic for about 10 years at his home.

While he will miss the festivities, he said, the club has talked about meeting every other year since some of the members come from as far away as Canada and New York.

Madigan didn’t know Patsy personally, but he remembers going to church on Sundays in the early 1950s and stopping by Gaunt’s Drug Store with his family for ice cream. Patsy would serve them as part of her duties at the soda fountain in the business.

When his family attended a variety show held at Handley High School, Patsy sang, wearing one of her signature cowgirl outfits.

They realized it was “the girl from the drug store,” Madigan said, and shortly afterward, her career took off with performances on national television shows and in Nashville.

“She was very talented,” he said. His favorite song is not as well-known as some of her others, “Back in Baby’s Arms.”

Cline was killed in a plane crash in 1963, in Camden, Tenn. She is buried in Shenandoah Memorial Gardens near Winchester, where the fan club has held a memorial event yearly.

In addition to her burial site, a bell tower was erected in her memory at the Frederick County cemetery.

In 1973, Patsy was elected posthumously to the Country Music Hall of Fame,

Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf, president of Celebrating Patsy Cline, a local organization whose mission is to to preserve and perpetuate the legacy of the singer and her music, usually attended some of the fan club events during the holiday weekend.

“We’ll miss the fan club members, but we look forward to them coming back,” she said. “It is fun to see the friends we have made over the years.”

While the fan club won’t meet here at the end of the month, Patsy fans can get a sample of her singing at a local site.

Wayside Theatre in Middletown is presenting its production of “Always ... Patsy Cline” through Aug. 30.

www.patsycline.info/apc