By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

Dave Haradon, an active and enthusiastic volunteer in the community who was named the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Citizen for 2015, was a lead organizer to bring the John Denver Tribute Concert to the area as a fundraiser for the Longwood Rotary. He spent months helping to plan the June 6 event that would take place at Unionville High School. But Haradon, 72,  a longtime Rotarian at the local and regional levels, suffered a stroke on June 4, and died the following day, according to fellow members of the Longwood Rotary.

Fellow Longwood Rotary member and membership chairman Tammy Duering said she had been working on the concert with Haradon, but he had been doing most of the work and dealt with the logistics. She explained that Haradon had attended a concert featuring Ted Vigil, an acclaimed John Denver tribute performer, in Lancaster last year, and believed it would be well received in Kennett Square and would raise money for worthy projects out of the Rotary Foundation.

“We’ve just been putting the pieces together,” Duering said.

The John Denver Tribute Concert was well received by what appeared to be a generation that was familiar with and loved his folk music in the 1970s and 1980s. They came and nearly filled the Unionville High School Auditorium.

All who were asked said their main reason for coming was that they loved and remembered Denver’s music. One young graduate of Unionville High School said she liked the music he wrote and sang, and added, “He was lost long before I was born.”

Her mother, who was with her, commented on the remark, “We brought her up the right way. Mary Ann Emerson said she and her friends loved John Denver and, “We share a birthday, December 31, but he was 10 years older – 1943.”

Others said they heard from friends that the concert was coming, and they bought tickets as well.

Vigil, looking very much like the composer, singer, environmental activist he was honoring, had three backup musicians with him and opened the show with Denver’s vigorous “Rocky Mountain High.” Most of the audience joined in.

He went on to sing most of Denver’s memorable numbers in rapid order, including many of the songs that sold millions of copies through the years.

Some of the songs were enhanced by video backup on a screen behind him, like the ocean scene to accompany “High Calypso,” which honored oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

At one point Vigil reminded his audience that he has been described as looking somewhat like John Denver and even sometimes sounding like him, but he is no imitator. Rather, he said, he loves singing Denver’s songs and offering a tribute to his work.

After the mid-concert intermission, Vigil returned with the announcement that he was re-enacting the “The Muppet Show” rendition of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” With four volunteers from the audience, he sang the song, and the four helpers uttered the animal sounds.

Vigil closed the show with a rousing version of “Eagles and Horses,” and then returned with an encore of “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.”