Kids First at Rock Hall’s Mainstay

When you think of The Mainstay, you think of music…all kinds of quality music await you when you visit this little venue in “downtown” Rock Hall, Maryland. But throughout its 19-year history, helping young people has also been a consistent theme. When your venue consists of a room that is about 30′ x 50′, a small lounge area, and two unisex bathrooms, you can’t do camps for children or complex summer activities. But still, The Mainstay has managed to serve young people. “We see our approach as eclectic,” says Tom McHugh, founder and director. “Over our history we have always found ways to use our space, our music, and our community to help children and youth.” Just a year after The Mainstay opened, a young woman who was temporarily living in Rock Hall came with a unique proposal. She wanted to do what she called a “one week magical musical.” A few ads produced about twenty kids who worked for seven days from 10am to 3pm on singing, dance, acting…and lo, a production took place.

Banjo Man Tom McHugh

Sometimes the activity is more a reaction to need in the community. Several years after the Mainstay’s founding a prominent local artist donated a painting to help us raise money for a very ill local child. A silent auction was conducted over a period of weeks, and the result was a gift of $5,000 to the needy family. Another donation produced over $2500 for another Rock Hall child who was desperately ill. More recently a very young girl, granddaughter of a local waterman, was sent for a week on the Echo Hill Outdoor School skipjack…paid from the Mainstay “Kids Are First” fund.

When Parks and Recreation stated a need for uniforms for one of the girls’ softball teams, The Mainstay bought the uniforms for “Team Mainstay.” In another year, two youngsters were given scholarships to the Echo Hill Outdoor School; they spent a week living and sailing on the Echo Hill Skipjack. When the annual county wide talent Show needed a venue for the finals, The Mainstay opened its doors. If you have ever admired the wonderful mural of Bay life on the back deck, know that it was done by a group of Rock Hall Elementary School kids. And the long painting over the window in the main room, depicting George Washington’s trip from Philadelphia to Mount Vernon? It was done by 2nd graders from Rock Hall Elementary School.

Service to children has also been provided by Tom McHugh in his role as The Banjo Man. Through all of The Mainstay history, McHugh has performed his music in schools all over the state of Maryland, and abroad. As a Fulbright Scholar in 1992 he was one of the first performers to sing and play for children in rural Hungary after the hurried departure of the Russians. For over twenty years, he has also taken his music to Ireland. The “Chester River Song” is well known in Kiskunfelegyhaza, Hungary, and Letterfrack, Eire.

A few years ago, as part of a major fund drive engineered by a wonderful former board member, the indomitable Joyce Landon, The Mainstay raised money for a scholarship to support a Kent County High School graduate who intended to teach music. That student, Emily Sessa, recently graduated from Towson University as a music education major, and the first woman ever to be the drum major of the Towson University band. She will always be thankful for the help The Mainstay gave her. And she is embarked on a career as a music teacher!

And we can never forget the wonderful creativity of one of our former board members, Ann Hennessy. She was a writer and a vernacular poet, as well as a practicing psychologist! She created our program “Live Poets Society”. Kids in our local schools were encouraged to write a poem around a central theme, submit it to a Mainstay committee, and then a celebration of their poetry took place on a Sunday afternoon at The Mainstay. Hundreds of local kids (and teachers) benefitted from this program. After Ann’s death, the program was continued by one of our local poets, Howard McIntyre, and it continues to foster poetry and creativity in our young people.

Recognizing that The Mainstay would be a great intern experience for a college student interested in theatre management, The Mainstay worked with Washington College and found a student intern for the spring term on 2012. The student, Marta Weisenberg, created our first u-tube video. The Mainstay experience showed Marta the inner workings of a theatre, from booking to production.

In 1997, The Mainstay created ROCK HALL FALLFEST: A CELEBRATION OF FAMILY AND COMMUNITY. Each year a major part of the one-day event is Kids Kourt…a step back in time. Children can have free pony rides, milk a goat, fish for wooden fish from a pond, ride a super slide, attend a clown show, have a face painted, and eat bad but yummy food to excess…and almost all of that is FREE.

All of these seemingly scattered events and ideas do have a certain kind of coherence: the dedication of a small non-profit known for its music, but using the creative skills of the enterprise to support young people. And there is more…

Early in its history, The Mainstay made a commitment to support young people who are actually playing live music. All genres of music were included: from classical, pop, and jazz to rock and folk. One of McHugh’s favorite Mainstay anecdotes tells of a rock band from Kent County High School, who asked to play at Fallfest. McHugh realized that the band was likely to be the standard loud, three-chord raw ensemble, but he immediately said,”Sure, and the fee will be $100.” The night before Fallfest, the father of the band leader knocked at McHugh’s door with a check for $100. He was amazed to learn that the $100 was to be paid from Mainstay funds to the band. “You’re paying THEM?” he said, shaking his head.

Over the years The Mainstay has hosted string quartets and piano quartets from the Temple University Gifted Program for Students, Ages 8 to 14; The University of Delaware Big Band visits yearly; in 2013, The University of Maryland Jazz Band gave a rousing concert under the direction of Mainstay jazz consultant, Chuck Redd; after the death of our dear friend Charlie Byrd, The Mainstay established a series for winners of the Charlie Byrd Scholarship in Classical and Jazz Guitar at the Peabody in Baltimore; and young trumpet virtuoso, Geoff Gallante, age 13, appeared this year at The Mainstay with a six piece jazz ensemble. Geoff was video taped by Voice of American, and the three-minute clip will be seen by over 16 million viewers, world wide. Tom was insistent that The Mainstay sign be the intro to the clip!

Sometimes the impact of a performance at The Mainstay by a young person has an unanticipated result. Michael Hong, pianist, appeared on our stage when he was just ten years old. He had already performed in Montreal and China. Here are his words: “I played in many recitals both big and small. However, none of them stood out to me as did The Mainstay audience. The audiences at the other recitals were clapping for the sake of clapping, but at Mainstay, it was the first time I saw true emotions and enjoyment when I raised my head and surveyed the crowd”. Michael played other performances for us. When his family moved to Georgia, he wrote to us: “Thanks to the opportunities that Mainstay has offered, I became a better musician, a better performer and a more confident young man”.

Using a grant from The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, The Mainstay has assisted in the development of jazz performance at Kent County High School and at Washington College, in Chestertown. The Mainstay, through its extensive contacts in the jazz world, brings seasoned professionals to the schools to work both in ensemble formats and with individual student-performers. This year the Washington College Jazz Band will present its fourth annual program at The Mainstay. The focus this year at the high school will be the development of female vocalists in jazz with instruction coming from three top level jazz vocalists. We call the program The Art of Song.

So, music at The Mainstay is not just for great listening; it is also an engine for change, for helping kids and for improving our community. Since the Mainstay opened it’s doors, the mission statement has emphasized education and children’s activities. The Kids Are First Program will be a legacy McHugh leaves behind upon retirement. Twenty years…twenty years of helping kids. Twenty years of great music. Twenty years of excellence.