Although Mike Shobe did pass on to some very pearly gates on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we have not completely lost him. He was a legendary figure in our community, and legends never die. Often, time embellishes their legacy. Just ask Johnny Appleseed.
As many know, Shobe is best remembered for the many concerts and 19 music festivals he organized, called Shobefests. Starting as a festive backyard bachelor/birthday party shindig on the Riviera with several dozen dedicated musical revelers back in the ’80s, the Shobefest grew into quite the epic event, with as many as 800 people attending the annual word-of-mouth musical bash. And once you attend, you’re hooked, and you look forward to the next one more than Christmas.
It was a true coup that he was able to round up such titans of traditional music as Greg Brown, Tim and Mollie O’Brien, Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, and almost Joe Craven about five times — as well as a veritable Fortune 500 of local pickers, grinners, balladeers, and sultans of swing such as Tom and Kenny, the Cache Valley Drifters, Rincon Ramblers, Marley’s Ghost, Kenny Edwards and Karla Bonoff (as tweeners, no less), Gilles Apap and the Transylvanian Mountain Boys, Glen Phillips, and, of course, Dude Fonteyn, who played at all 19 — not to mention all the rest, too numerous to list.
