It was billed as “Saturday Night at the 70s with John Records Landecker” and that’s what it was. The event ran from 7pm until after 10pm, and we were pleasantly surprised by the big turnout at the Georgetown Fair, about ten miles south of Danville. Back in the 70s, Landecker’s WLS broacasts were very popular in this area. The general manager of the sponsoring radio station (980 AM WITY) looked up the ratings for that era, and Landecker’s show had an incredible 38 rating. That’s a gigantic number.
Lots of Landecker fans were there (some drove in from as far away as Iowa), and so were some youngsters who weren’t even alive when those WLS shows originally aired. They enjoyed John’s stories and dancing to the 70s music chosen by WITY. John enjoyed it too. This was the kind of fair he attended regularly as a youngster when he visited his Grandpa Records in Indiana.
At one point WITY’s DJ Randy asked John if he had ever met a queen.
“Does Elton John count?” John replied.
Before the night was over, John met several queens (none of them were named Elton): Miss Georgetown Fair and her court, and Miss Illinois.
It was even a fun night for Eckhartz Press city-boy publishers Rick and Dave. We manned the “Records Truly Is My Middle Name” sales table on the side of the dance floor. Our 70s dance floor was surrounded on three sides. One one side, there were traditional carnival rides like the Tilt-O-Whirl and a Ferris Wheel, along with a livestock display. On another side, a series of food stands selling the likes of deep fried twinkies (Dave had one), elephant ears, and corn dogs (Rick had one). And on the third side there was a real live Demolition Derby.
Thanks to the great staff at WITY (Dave, Randy, Linda, et al) for sponsoring this event, and thanks to everyone who came out on a Saturday night in Georgetown, Illinois.
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