Free Bicentennial concert with Yellow Brick Road

 … A Tribute to Elton John on Saturday

GUILFORD — Come and celebrate with the Herring Girls as they along with their husbands present a free concert for the Guilford Bicentennial.

Observer file photo/Stuart Hedstrom

FREE BICENTENNIAL CONCERT — Yellow Brick Road … A Tribute to Elton John — with Gerald Brann as Elton John — will perform a free concert as part of the Town of Guilford’s Bicentennial. The performance will be on Saturday, April 16 at 7 p.m. and is sponsored by descendents of town founder Robert Herring, Sherry Herring French and Andrea Herring Gilbert. For more information, go to “Guilford Maine Bicentennial” on Facebook. 

Sherry Herring French thought long and hard about “what could we give the town of Guilford for a birthday present?” After all, the town is 200 years old and she is a direct descendant of the founder Robert Herring. So she thought of a few things, made a few phone calls and hit the jackpot.

French called Gerald Brann who performs and impersonates Elton John. His show is called “Yellow Brick Road .. A Tribute to Elton John.” She was thrilled to hear him say, “Sure Sherry I would love to come to Guilford and perform” So they talked further and finally set a date of April 16..

So the scene is set. French Construction would hire Brann and give the gift to the townspeople. French smiled and went about her business as it was way too early to start working on things yet — it was only October. Halloween came and went, Thanksgiving came and went, committee meetings for the Bicentennial came and went and then suddenly it dawned on French, “Holy smokes Batman she had a cousin with a business in town and she was a descendant too.

French went into Herring Bros. and asked Andrea and Tom Gilbert if they would like to split the bill and join in presenting the gift to the town. They both smiled and jumped up and said, “We’d love too.”

French and Andrea Gilbert are the sixth generation of Herring’s in town. The founder was Robert Herring, first generation and then his son was David Herring the second generation. His son was Levi Herring the third generation, his son Charles Herring was fourth generation, his sons were Lorin Herring (French’s father) and Malcolm Herring (Gilbert’s father) for the fifth generation. Their girls were French and Gilbert for the sixth generation.

They rented Piscataquis Community High School for the event, talked to the janitors about how many the school would hold and decided on what they could do to make it spectacular. All either one of the women would say is “many surprises will be happening.” There will be door prizes, ice cream, bake goods, giveaways and Brann will be putting on a unstoppable show.

So mark the calendars and save the date April 16 at p.m. for a good time that is totally free to all that attend as Sherry and Jim French of French Construction and Andrea and Tom Gilbert of Herring Bros. sponsor the show. There will be bowl on a table if attendees feel the need to give back and stick a few bucks into it. Money goes into the Guilford Bicentennial account for more fun to be had by all July 30 at the huge celebration of 200 years of town. This is not just for Guilford resident, it for all who would like to see a great show and join in the party and celebrate Guilford turning 200.