December 2020

Dear friends,

Winter and the old year’s end bring times of reflection, gratitude, and celebration. This year more than most.

We at Token Creek are reflecting on how much we missed summer on the farm. We missed seeing you there, missed the live performances in the barn, and missed all the convivialities our festival brings each year.

But we hope you didn’t miss us: in September, “Music from the Barn,” our virtual series, offered two weeks of daily concerts – all new programs assembled from thirty years of performances. Our archives generously yielded up the artistry of players long gone — Leonard Stein, Lorraine Hunt (Lieberson), André Emilianoff, Craig Smith — and refreshed our memory of wonderful recent performances. We ignited our imagination of what we might do in the future.

The response was heartwarming. People who haven’t yet been to Wisconsin were able to sample, through sound and images, a bit of the Token Creek experience. Others were reminded of wonderful times together in the barn:

“What a jewel of a music box.”
“I feel like I’m there at the barn.”
“Concerts were gems set in a perfect web site.”
“I wish [it] would last forever.”
“A beautifully presented season..”
“Treasure all treasure.”

If you weren’t able to join us in the fall, don’t worry: you can still find the concerts online at our website. There you’ll also encounter four new CDs we released this season — A Life in Concert, Wicked Wit, and two new jazz compilations.

We’re so hopeful that we’ll again gather safely at the end of next summer, in the space that we cherish, to make music together, to enjoy your company once again.

But for now, in this season of celebration, we want to express our gratitude to you — for all you have done and continue to do to support the Token Creek Festival, “a gem, a treasure nestled in the heart of Wisconsin.”

And we hope you will consider a new winter gift for our next summer season.

with warm wishes,

John & Rose Mary Harbison
and the Token Creek board and staff