Give a group of children a maraca, a bass drum, and some cow bells, play some background music and have a man full of good spirit singing songs. What would happen?
“The goal is to break down the walls of fear and judgment,” said Washboard Willy, a children’s entertainer at the Lewis and Clark Stampede and Fair this year.
That’s exactly what happens at Washboard Willy’s jamborees.
There just seems to be an extreme appeal between children and a man with a washboard, a woodblock, a symbol and various bells and whistles attached to him. As Washboard Willy performs, there’s an array of instruments that kids in the audience are encouraged to play. Washboard Wanda, Willy’s assistant, refers to it as a “children’s entertainment playground.”
When he’s not strolling the fairgrounds as a one man band, Washboard Willy goes by his civilian name, Larry Hiskett. Washboard Wanda, aka Donnis Hiskett, is Larry’s wife and musical partner on stage. They’ve been traveling together for five years, their music taking them to exotic new lands such as Norway, Belgium, Japan, Germany, England and Iceland.
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“Although we like the mountain people the best,” said Larry.
Originally from a farm in Kansas, Larry made his way to Steamboat, Colo. where he was a landscape architect. In his spare time he practiced percussion in bands with friends and occasionally played in nightclubs and bars. In 1990 an opportunity to be a cultural ambassador to Japan surfaced, and he took it. Larry’s job was to play in a Japanese park for families to view.
“I used to leave my instruments out on the lawn so I would be prepared,” said Larry. “Eventually kids started getting curious about the instruments, but when I offered for them to play they would get nervous and run away.”
After deliberately leaving out his instruments and pretending to ignore the children, finally one after another each child would grab an instrument and start playing along, Larry said. The joy on the children’s faces compelled him to quit his landscaping job and join the entertainment industry. Ever since, Hiskett and his wife have been traveling 300 days out of the year all over the United States. They try to keep a “never say no” atmosphere with the kids at all times. When asked why he enjoys the fair, he replied “it’s a wonderful family of entertainers coming together to make a fair. It truly takes volunteers from a community to make this form of entertainment go on.”
The kids’ smiling faces don’t lie as they dance and jam up on stage with Washboard Willy. Whether they know it or not, they’re gaining courage with every song. “The shiest kids in the beginning are the ones that don’t want to leave the stage at the end,” says Larry. “We put smiles on their faces. That’s our job.” Hiskett and his wife have found that if you follow your heart, everything else falls into place.
