A sell-out crowd Saturday night at the Alhambra Theatre clapped, shouted and danced to the rhythm of Wynonna Judd singing a mix of Christmas and country songs for the sixth annual Hopfest to benefit the theater.
“This was biggest act we’ve had … certainly the most well-known,” said Margaret Prim, executive director of the Pennyroyal Arts Council.
Judd, who performs with her band, The Big Noise, has been recording and performing for 35 years – first in the duo The Judds with her mother, Naomi, and then as a solo artist.
She has been to Hopkinsville before, although not to the Alhambra. In August 1986, The Judds performed at the Western Kentucky State Fair. In July 2002, Wynonna sang the “National Anthem” at Fort Campbell when Maj. Gen. Richard A. Cody turned over his command of the 101stAirborne Division (Air Assault) to Maj. Gen. David Petraeus.
Originally, Judd was booked to perform this September as the first show in the arts council’s annual Live at the Alhambra concert series. That date fell through when Judd decided to accept a spot in the popular Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival in Franklin, Tennessee, but she agreed to reschedule for another date in Hopkinsville.
Judd and the band drove into town early Saturday from a show the previous night in Ohio. They had just kicked off their annual holiday tour.
The concert required a level of technology for audio and lighting that is not typical for many Alhambra shows. Prim said the Alhambra’s technical director, Jason Killebrew, who is co-owner of Music Central in Hopkinsville, and other staff members, “killed it,” in preparation for the concert.
“It’s a sophisticated sound system and there’s a lot of technical stuff that goes into a show like this,” she said.
Walker County, a sister duo, played prior to Wynonna. Their song, “The Hamptons, about people living in small towns, is featured in this video.
Hopkinsville firefighter Michael Pendleton helped establish Hopfest in 2014. The idea came out of a Leadership Hopkinsville class to raise money for improvements to the Alhambra. Christian Fiscal Court owns the Alhambra, and the Pennyroyal Arts Council manages the facility.
Last fall, the Alhambra reopened following an extensive renovation, which included the addition of The Hall, a special events space on the second floor that previously housed court and government offices.
Through its sixth year with the Wynonna concert, Hopfest has raised approximately $53,000, said Prim.
The next major facility project at the Alhambra will be the addition of administrative offices for the arts council. A fire at the old L&N Train Depot downtown, where the arts council previously was headquartered, forced the staff out of that building several months ago. The offices, adjacent to The Hall, will be in an area that’s been vacant since Christian Circuit Court offices moved from the courthouse annex to the Christian County Justice Center.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
