‘It couldn’t have been better’ – Hanson family draws a crowd for Saturday concert
Published 11:15 am Monday, May 19, 2014

Sylvia Davis plays the fiddle with Full Circle during The Hanson Family and Friends Concert Saturday night at Riverland Community College.
Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
By Trey Mewes and Jason Schoonover
More than 400 people gathered at Riverland Community College’s Frank W. Bridges Theatre Saturday to honor one local family’s musical roots.
The Hanson Family and Friends Concert filled all of the 315 seats in the theater, along with 50 more people in an overflow room, more than 50 musicians and 15 KSMQ technicians.
“The response was tremendous,” said KSMQ’s David Hagen. “It couldn’t have been better.”
KSMQ and the Riverland Community College Foundation partnered to organize the show to honor the legacies of Olaf “Fiddlin’ Ole” Hanson, a well-known musician and instrument repairman who died in 2007, and his wife, Maxine. The show featured the music of Ole and Maxine’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and friends.
Wendy Lason, one of Ole and Maxine’s daughters, was thankful for the opportunity to honor her parents with so many family members and friends onstage.
“There were people in the audience who had remembered my parents, or who had heard of my father or his music,” she said. “It was wonderful to be able to honor my dad, and my mother like that.”
Larson is also grateful to Riverland and KSMQ for helping to put the concert together.
“I have never worked with anyone so wonderful as KSMQ and Riverland that night,” Larson said. “They made it all possible, they made it possible to honor my parents that night. They were truly, truly great.”
Eleven groups performed in the show, which featured a finale by 36 family members.
“It was an overall success and it was standing ovations,” Hagen said. “They didn’t want to leave.”
For the final song, the Hansons sang “You Are My Sunshine” with the audience.
KSMQ and the foundation collected more than $3,300 in freewill donations.
The concert will air on KSMQ sometime in September, and DVDs will be available for sale around the same time.
KSMQ is hoping to put on a similar show next year.