By Holly Johnson

Hormel Historic Home

I really didn’t know I could have so much fun at a kids concert, but I found myself laughing heartily watching Koo Koo Kanga Roo entertain more than 100 people, many of them three feet tall and shorter, during our first garden concert of the season.

Songs like “LMNOP,” “Ninja Training,” and “Pirate Prep” were filled with silly lyrics and upbeat music that made it hard for both young and younger to stay still. For the second year the artists put on a great show so you will probably be hearing about them again in 2014.

Our next concert will be just as entertaining but I doubt that the director, Brian Koser, will be crawling in the grass acting like a critter.

The Austin Community Jazz Band will once again entertain at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Seventeen musicians will perform songs such as “Smooth,” “Two Seconds to Midnight” and “The Rainbow Connection.” Refreshments will be available for sale including wine and beer.

All of our concerts are made possible by a generous grant from MarySue Hormel Harris who is one of many talented musicians in the Hormel family.

As I have written before most of George A. Hormel’s family had an interest in music. In 2005 and 2006 a few of them, known as the Hormel Family Band, joined together and recorded a CD called King of Spam, which we currently sell at the Hormel Historic Home.

Contributing to the compilation were Jim Hormel (grandson of George), Alison Hormel, Jimmy Hormel, and Smokey Hormel (great-grandchildren of George), and David Miller and Ella Hormel (great-great-grandchildren of George).

The dedication on the back of the CD says “For as long as we can remember, whenever our family has gotten together, some sort of impromptu jam session has always taken place. Jay’s sons, Geordie, Tom and Jim, grew up in the 1930’s and 1940’s, when, if they wanted to be entertained, they would get together and play music. Naturally, when the next generations came into the picture, we wanted to participate as well.”

The music on the CD is a “reflection on those times we had as children learning the songs of our uncles, fathers, and grandfathers. And it is a way for us to reconnect with the past and to share that music- and the pleasure of making it- with the next generation.”

Join us on Monday for some jazz that the Hormels would have enjoyed both listening to and performing.

Snapdragon Seeds

Thursday, July 11, 6:30 p.m.

Austin families will be entertained by Steve Sanders from Snapdragon Seeds. This is an upbeat children’s educational music project that teaches rhymes, patterns, synonyms and the intellectual power of asking questions.