What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1191856
groups all over the world — Chicago, Hong Kong, Australia," he says. "Our iteration is a little bit different than a lot of the others. Most start out as 'Let's get together and drink and sing,' and we started out that way and loved that, but we found it to be fairly insular in its concept." When Weatherford's Beers and Hymns first started out a little over three years ago, the gatherings were small — maybe around 30 people — and primarily comprised the community surrounding First United Methodist, where Weatherford works. He wanted it to have more of a reach and to be more inclusive so, he says, he started to tweak the original concept. Today, events draw in large crowds, swelling to over 400 at last year's Beer and Carols event at Bentonville's Record, their largest event of the year. "We still sing old hymns," he says — songs he calls "universal standards" like "Amazing Grace," "How Great Thou Art," "I'll Fly Away," "I Saw the Light" and "When the Saints Go Marching In" — "and then we have themes every month. For example, January is The Beatles, February is love songs, March is 'Luck of the Irish'. If you're not into hymns or the whole Jesus thing, cool, just stick around — the next song is Tom Petty. That makes it more of an inviting thing for folks to get involved with." They also started playing outside of Bentonville and now have regular gigs at several different bars in the Northwest Arkansas area. But perhaps the biggest change Weatherford has made since the group originated is its philanthropic focus. "We don't do cover charges, it's purely donation-based," he says. "We try to make sure all of our events are free. It keeps it very open. We invite the charity of the night to come and speak a couple of times throughout the evening, and that's the only speaking that takes place. There's no prayer time, no bait and switch, it's just, 'Let's sing.' That way, anybody can feel welcome. We pass buckets about midway through the night, but it's purely on the audience to say, 'Yeah, we like this charity, and we want to support it.' And all of our venues are giving 10% of their proceeds to the charity right now — but the lion's share of what we collect are donations." Reasons To Sing There was a Beer and Carols performance scheduled for a few days after I spoke with Weatherford on the phone, and I immediately made plans to be there so I could check it out in person. With my husband, 8-year-old twins and mom in tow, I headed to the picturesque Tontitown Winery, arriving just in time to get one of the last tables as the room rapidly filled with folks. Weatherford and his wife, Casey, were at the forefront of an impressive eight-piece band, and lyric sheets were waiting on the tabletops. The crowd was slow to join in as the band kicked off the night with a beautiful arrangement of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," but they warmed up considerably a few songs in. We were all singing together, full force, by about mid- show. It was as fun and as beautiful and as meaningful as I remembered: a crowd, many of us strangers, experiencing the spirit of cooperation, the satisfaction of creating something beautiful together and a shared love of music. DECEMBER 15-21, 2019 WHAT'S UP! 9 See Beer Page 10 FAQ Beer And Hymns WHAT — Beer and Carols: an evening of classic and contemporary Christmas carols WHEN — 5-8 p.m. Dec. 15 WHERE — Record, 104 S.W. A St., Bentonville CHARITY — Benefiting the Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter and WHAT — Beer and Hymns: An evening of classic hymns and secular audience favorites WHEN — 5-7 p.m. Dec. 31 WHERE — Bike Rack Brewery, 801 S.E. Eighth St., Bentonville CHARITY — Benefiting Beer and Hymns INFO — beerand hymns.com Photo courtesy Russell Bloodworth Photography Though the venue for Beer and Hymns is sometimes a bar, the events are open to all ages.