Please note: Our News & Notes page lists entries in descending date order so that viewers can see the newest entries without scrolling. To help with maintaining the archives, we have left the dates in descending order, putting the most recent year first and the oldest last.
The HOF Board of Directors welcomes two new members! Jay Carpenter and Patti Reed have joined our ranks, and we are excited to have them. Be sure to congratulate them the next time you see them.
The 2025 Induction Ceremony is moving back to March! The ceremony had been moved to September because of COVID-19, which seemed to be stronger in the spring than in the fall.
The Board of Directors has decided to return to our old schedule of holding the Induction Ceremony in the spring and the Picnic & Jam in the fall. Therefore the 2025 Induction Ceremony is scheduled for March 9, 2025. Please mark your calendar!!
Attention musicians! If you want to be considered for this Induction Class, please send in your questionnaire soon! There is a link to the questionnaire form on our home page.
The Class of 2024 has been inducted! We extend our congratulations to our new inductees.
We also extend our thanks to all who supported the Hall and the inducttees by attending the ceremony. We are especially grateful to those who supported the Hall through the purchase of our merchandise, 50/50 tickets, etc., and a special thanks to those who made cash donations. This money is used to support music education in local schools, as well as other charitable contributions. Without your help, we cannot provide this support.
We hope to start posting photos in the photo gallery for the Induction Ceremony next week. It takes a little while to sort, crop and clean photos, so we appreciate your patience. Selected photos are already being posted to our Facebook page, so be sure to check it out.
Announcing the Induction Class of 2024! The following candidates have been chosen to be members of the Class of 2024:
Scott Aselage
Joe Craft
Pete Ford
Frank Manderino
John Newman
Eric O'Brien
David "Peewee" Orman
Patti Reed
Hank Roberts
Karen Layton Smith
Scott Sweitzer
Donnie Wollam
Please join us in congratulating them. For those candidates who were not selected this year, you have not been forgotten! Your name remains in the Candidate Pool and will be considered again next year.
The Induction Ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, September 15, 2024. As in
past years, it will be held at the Zorah Shrine in Terre Haute, IN. Be sure to mark your
calendars!
Tickets will go on sale starting on August 1. You can purchase them from the Music Shoppe
or from any Board Member. The cost is $20 per ticket, which includes your meal.
We didn't want to raise ticket prices, but like every other non-profit organization, we have
been hurt by rising costs. In particular, food prices have nearly doubled over the last
few years while the money we brought in did not increase, resulting in a sharp drop in what was
left over for us to do our charitable work.
Please help us out! It is only with your support that the Hall will
survive and be able do the community work that we are known for, particularly in our schools.
Consider buying a ticket even if you can't attend, or if you wish, make a donation. Please
support us and the musicians we represent. We appeal particularly to our members!
Help us to be able to honor musicians in the future like you were honored in the past.
Mike Spice has announced his resignation from our Board of Directors. He joined
the Board in 2009 and made many contributions to the Hall, including serving as Treasurer
since 2010. Mike has graciously volunteered to train his replacement as Treasurer.
The Board offers its thanks to Mike for all of the time and effort he put in to making the
Hall of Fame as success, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors. If you
see him, please congratulate him on a job well done.
We had another great Picnic & Jam!
Attendance was down slightly this year, but a lot of musicians showed up and played.
If you didn't make it, you missed getting to see members from some of the Valley's most
popular bands perform!
Once again, we collected non-perishables for the local food banks, and the response was
amazing. Thanks to allwho donated.
Make plans to join us for the 2024 Induction Ceremony in September.
information will be posted here in the near future.
Please mark your calendars for the Hall of Fame's 2024 Picnic & Jam!
As in the past, the Picnic will be held at the Shrine Country Club (Shrine Hill) and we will
once again be collecting canned goods and other non-perishable foods to share with the local
food banks, as part of our coommunity involvement.
Attention musicians! Would you like to perform? Come early and sign up.
Bring your whole band, or if this isn't possible, let us know and we can help find musicians for
you to perform with.
Want to be inducted into the Hall of Fame? Here is your chance to
introduce yourself to members of the Board and to get up and show your skills!
Mike White has announced his resignation from our Board of Directors. He joined
the Board in 2018 and was a valued member.
The Board wishes to thank Mike for all of the time and effort he put in to making the
Hall of Fame as success, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors. If you
see him, please congratulate him on a job well done.
Please mark your calendars for the Hall of Fame's 2024 events:
The Picnic & Jam is scheduled for May 19, 2024.
The Induction Ceremony is scheduled for September 15, 2024.
As in the past, the Picnic will be held at the Shrine Country Club (Shrine Hill) and
the Induction will be held at the Shrine on North 7th Street. We look forward to
seeing you there!
The 2023 Induction Ceremony is history! As with every ceremony, this one was very special. We had good food, a great audience, and music that was some of the best in the Wabash Valley. If you missed it, you missed a great party, so be sure to attend next year! Where can you go for such a small amount, get fed, socialize with your friends and listen to the best musicians in the Valley? Only here!
We salute the Class of 2023!
The Hall of Fame gratefully acknowledges everyone who helped to make this event possible: Our host, the Zorah Shrine, our opening act, and our many volunteers. We appreciate every one of them.
Please Note: We are in the process of updating this website with information and pictures from the 2023 Induction Ceremony. An updated list of HOF inductees has been added, and we are working on a photo gallery for the event. Pictures have already been posted on our Facebook page.
Tickets are now on sale for the upcoming Induction Ceremony! You can purchase them from the Music Shoppe or from any Board Member. The cost is $15 per ticket. PLEASE support us by buying tickets. It is only with your support that we are able to do the work that we do.
Announcing the Induction Class of 2023! The following candidates have been chosen to be members of the Class of 2023:
Randall Bays
Art Blankenship
Mike Cruse
Brad Ennen
John Henderson
John Hennessy
Brent Lindsay
Melissa Milbourn
Erin Oransky
Bill Pine
Steve Shaw
Jim Thistle II
Matthew Westerfield
John Wheat
Please join us in congratulating them. For those candidates who were not selected this year, you have not been forgotten! Your name remains in the Candidate Pool and will be considered again next year.
The Induction Ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, September 17, 2023. As in past years, it will be held at the Zorah Shrine in Terre Haute, IN. Be sure to mark your calendars!
Please help us out! Like so many other organizations, the Hall of Fame was hurt by the pandemic and has not completely recovered. In order to have enough money to operate for the next year, we need a successful Induction Ceremony. Please come out and support us and the musicians we represent. We especially appeal to our Hall of Fame members - please support YOUR organization.
The 13th annual Picnic & Jam was held on May 21, 2023 at the Zorah Shrine Country Club on the northeast side of Terre Haute, IN. The weather was good and we had a great time.
We didn't know what to expect given that Covid had kept us from holding a picnic since 2019, but the turnout was great and the number of musicians wanting to perform was amazing! This was probably the best music we've had since we started holding the picnics. If you like live music, but missed the picnic, you really missed out! We can't begin to tell you how much we appreciate your support.
We have begun work on a web page for the picnic. It will take a little while to sort through all of the photos, clean and crop them, and post them on the page. Check back regularly to view our progress.
Please don't forget about the 2023 Induction Ceremony coming up on September 17 at the Zorah Shrine. Your purchase of a ticket will help us continue our charitable work in the community.
Two Hall of Fame events have been scheduled for 2023.
The Hall is restarting the Picnic & Jam, which had been cancelled for a few years due to COVID. It will be held on May 21 at the Shrine facility on Shrine Hill, where we have traditionally held it. We would love to have a good turnout for this event, especially musicians! Only a few get to perform at the Induction Ceremony, but everyone can get a chance to play at the Picnic.
Please Note: If you are seeking to be inducted into the Hall, you need to attend the Picnic & Jam. This is a perfect chance to get to know the Board and allow them to get to know you, and to play some music to show why you are a good choice for induction.
The 2023 Induction Ceremony will be held on September 17 at its usual location, the Zorah Shrine in Terre Haute. While we won't be selecting the inductees until closer to the time of the event, we need your questionnaires now, so that we have time to review them.
More information will be posted here as it becomes available.
We hope to restart the Picnic & Jam this year. The Hall is looking at the possibility of holding both an Induction Ceremony and a picnic in 2023. There are a lot of details to be worked out, so a final decision won't be made for a while.
If we are able to hold both events, we are thinking of holding the Picnic & Jam in May and the Induction Ceremony in September. We will post more information here when it becomres available.
The web site update is complete! Take some time to look around and see what we've added.
This web site is being updated! It took quite a while to work out the issues when our web provider upgraded their site, causing many of our web tools to stop working.
These updates will take a lot of time, so please bear with us as we complete the work. We appreciate your patience. In the meantime, be sure to follow us on our Facebook page.
Please Note - Depending on how your browser works, you may see the original pages the first time you view them. Click the browser Refresh button on each page to make sure you are seeing the most recent version of the page.
The Hall of Fame has made a significant change! It was a hotly debated topic, but the majority of the Board voted to lower our admission standards from 50 years old with 25 years experience to 40 years old with 20 years of experience. There were a number of reasons behind this change, and we will not try to explain all of them here, but the Hall has been facing some challenges due to the Covid pandemic. It is hoped that this change will bring in members who can address some of these challenges. The Hall cannot continue to exist without the active support of our members.
Announcing the Induction Class of 2022! The following candidates have been chosen to be members of the Class of 2022:
John Adams
Randy Andrew
Richard "Mike" Birdsong
Jeffrey J. Cartwright
Susan Clark
Wayne Cottrell
Billy Goodrich
Robert Wayne Mason
Mike McLeisch
Scott Mercer
Phil Morgan
Todd Raley
Donald G. Reed
Mike Rolle
Tony Schuman, Sr.
Please join us in congratulating them. For those candidates who were not selected this year, you have not been forgotten! Your name remains in the Candidate Pool and will be considered again next year.
The Induction Ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, September 18, 2022. As in past years, it will be held at the Zorah Shrine in Terre Haute, IN. Be sure to mark your calendars!
Please help us out! Like so many other organizations, the Hall of Fame has been hurt by the pandemic. In order to have enough money to operate this year, we need a successful Induction Ceremony. Please come out and support us and the musicians we represent.
A date for the 2022 Induction Ceremony has been set! It will be held on Sunday, September 18, 2022 at the Terre Haute Zorah Shrine. More information will be posted as it becomes available. Because of this late date, we will not be holding the annual Picnic & Jam.
Attention musicians! If you are interested in being considered for induction into the Hall of Fame, please do not delay in submitting your questionnaire. There is a link to the questionnaire on the main page of this web site.
In light of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the Board is reviewing options for holding our annual events for 2022. Assuming that there is no government shut-down of events such as this, we will hold a 2022 Induction Ceremony, although it will be later in the year than it normally is. The Board is still debating whether or not we will be able to hold the 2022 Picnic & Jam. We will post more information on this site and on our Facebook page when it becomes available.
Attention musicians! If you are interested in being considered for induction into the Hall of Fame, now is the time to submit your questionnaire. There is a link to the questionnaire on the main page of this web site.
Pictures are coming! We know that photos from the 2021 Induction Ceremony have been very slow in coming, and we apologize for this. There have been many factors - overloaded schedules for our volunteer help being one of them - that slowed us down, but we are actively working on building a page. We will post more information on this site when the new page is available.
Announcing the Induction Class of 2021! The following candidates have been chosen to be members of the Class of 2021:
David L. Archer
Jeffrey D. Archer, Sr.
Thomas L. Bridgewater
Brian Butts
Jay Carpenter
John M. Ford
Jack Gibson
Cartha Gustafson
Richard Gustafson
Rob Hawkins, Jr.
Tim Huber
David Hunt
Phil Hutson
Phillip Ivy, Sr.
Don Keegan
Richard LeDune
Curtis Mitchell
Bill Pennell
Bill Smith
Ricki Sparks
Robert Wolff
Please join us in congratulating them. For those candidates who were not selected this year, you have not been forgotten! Your name remains in the Candidate Pool and will be considered again next year.
The Induction Ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, September 19, 2021. As in past years, it will be held at the Zorah Shrine in Terre Haute, IN. Be sure to mark your calendars!
Please help us out! Like so many other organizations, the Hall of Fame has been hurt by the pandemic. In order to have enough money to operate this year, we need a successful Induction Ceremony. Please come out and support us and the musicians we represent.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board is reviewing options for the 2021 Induction Ceremony. We are preparing to choose the Class of 2021 and plan for the ceremony, but we will not choose a date for the ceremony until the numbers improve enough that we feel safe to host the event.
One thing is certain, the Induction Ceremony will not occur in March, as has been the pattern in past years. We don't expect to hold the event any sooner than May, and it could be later than that. Although we feel that the possibility of cancelling the event this year is very small, there is still a chance. We will post more information on this site and on our Facebook page when it becomes available.
The Board is pleased to announce another addition to its ranks. Kevin Beel has volunteered to serve, and we are grateful for his help. Be sure to congratulate him when you see him.
Also, the Board has started preparing for the Induction Class of 2021. We are planning to hold the event in March, as normal, but we do this with the understanding that we may be forced to change this date if conditions with the COVID-19 pandemic force us to do so. We will post more information on this site when it becomes available. Musicians, now is the time to submit your questionnaire if you have not already done so!
Ron Shepard will be hosting a Celebration of Life event to honor Hall of Fame member Finny Filchak, who passed away last Saturday, and asked the Hall of Fame to spread the word and invite musicians who would be interested in participating in a jam session.
The event will be held on Ron's property at 1776 E County Road 775 S, Hillsdale, Indiana (just north of Clinton), on Sunday, October 11, starting time is at 11 a.m. and will run as long as there are musicians and guests. He has an event center on his property that includes a stage and sound system. Bands that would like to perform are welcome, as are individual musicians who want to team up and perform with other musicians attending the event.
The Celebration of Life is open to all who wish to attend. Ron will be providing ham and beans, and guests are asked to bring a side dish or a dessert. Bring your own drinks and chairs.
We are pleased to introduce two new members of our Board of Directors. Doc Long and Jim Rasley joined the Board at our September meeting. We appreciate their willingness to serve and know that they will make many valuable contributions. Be sure to congratulate them when you see them.
We are sorry to announce the resignations of Jim Cheek from our Board of Directors. Jim joined the Board in March, 2009. His 11 years of service are greatly appreciated. We will miss him and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
We are sorry to announce the resignations of Tracy Richardson and Larry Velez from our Board of Directors. Tracy joined the Board in November, 2016, and Larry joined in February, 2010. Both have made solid contributions to the Board, but their work schedules have made it impossible for them to continue. We are grateful to both of them for their service to the Hall, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
We are sorry to announce the resignation of Jesse Richey from our Board of Directors. Jesse joined the Board in Auguest, 2012, and made many solid contributions to the Hall during his 12 years with us. We would like to thank Jesse for his faithful service, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
We are also sorry to announce the cancellation of the 2020 Picnic & Jam. Given the uncertainties surrounding the Covid-19 virus, it's nearly impossible to plan an event. We're also concerned about the health of our musicians, guests and car show participants. We will restart the picnic in 2021. We appreciate your understanding in this matter.
The Hall of Fame web site has been fixed and updated. Major updates include an updated Community Involvement page, and improved photo galleries. Where possible, we enlarged the photos on the site to improve your viewing experience. Unfortunately, some of the older photos became too blurred when enlarged, so we had to leave them as-is. There are also a number of minor updates and corrections.
Additionally, We were able to add photo gallery pages for the 2019 Picnic & Jam and the 2020 Induction Ceremony. Be sure to check them out!
The Hall of Fame and the web master extend their apologies to those who use this web site. We encountered some serious problems with the site, partly (if not entirely) due to an update that our web host made, entirely unknown to us. While the web site still worked, we had difficulties making updates to the site. It took a while to figure out the problem, but we have done so and have come up with a solution.
We are in the process of making necessary fixes, and we are also updating pages where needed. It will take a while to review every part of the web site, but we will get it done as soon as possible. We will also add a photo gallery from the 2019 Picnic and the 2020 Induction.
Check back regularly to see the progress we have made. Thanks for your patience.
We are sorry to announce the resignation of Randy Winkler from our Board of Directors. Randy joined the Board in October, 2008, and served as a Vice-Chair for four years. We would like to thank Randy for his many contributions to the Hall, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
The 2020 Induction Ceremony is history! As with every ceremony, this one was very special. We had good food, a great audience, and music that was some of the best in the Wabash Valley. If you missed it, you missed a great party, so be sure to attend next year! Where can you go for $15, get fed, socialize with your friends and listen to the best musicians in the Valley? Only here!
The Hall of Fame gratefully acknowledges everyone who helped to make this event possible: Our host, the Zorah Shrine, our sponsors, our opening act, Tyler Trueblood, and our many volunteers. Our sponsors were very generous to us. We appreciate every one of them and encourage you to partronize their stores.