Area favorite will perform at Chingawassa Days
The Chingawassa Days Committee recently announced the addition of Diamond W Wranglers (formerly Prairie Rose Wranglers), a popular country group to headline Friday night, June 6 at Central Park, Marion.
By adding the country-western group, the committee hopes to expand the range of musical tastes and attract a cross-section of festival-goers.
Friday night will kickoff with the Marion National Bank barbecue. The bank's community meal has been a part of the festival since the beginning.
Later in the evening the Diamond W Wranglers, sponsored by Central National Bank, will perform.
Diamond W Wranglers
The Diamond Wranglers, formerly the Prairie Rose Wranglers, was formed in 1999 to entertain at the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper. The band performed at more than 200 shows a year at the Prairie Rose, a working cattle ranch, as well as other venues.
Known for their traditional cowboy/western harmonizing, the group includes bass player and baritone Orin Friesen, lead singer, guitarist, and fiddle player Stu Stuart, guitarist and tenor Jim Farrell, and percussionist Steve Crawford, who also sings bass.
Highlights included during the group's career include The Great American Cowboy at Carnegie Hall, 2003 and 2004; The Great American Cowboy in San Francisco, 2006; The Great American Cowboy in China, 2006; Western Music Association Awards Show in Las Vegas, 2002; and other venues.
In 2007, the Wranglers opened their own Diamond W Chuckwagon Supper at Old Cowtown Museum, Wichita.
The Wranglers have enjoyed other awards and honors that include being the first musical group in history to be allowed to do a concert on the Great Wall of China, Western Heritage Wrangler Award for Outstanding Traditional Western Album, 2004; appointed official ambassadors of Kansas by Governor Kathleen Sebilius; and dozens of state and local tourism awards.
