Floyd Gospel Sing draws large, enthusiastic crowd

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Floyd, Iowa, is almost an eight-hour drive from Ozark, Missouri.

Performer Larry Delawder has been making the trip every year for the last 10 years.

“What happened was, Pastor Paul (Phillips) had booked us at the church, … then they told us about this event and wanted us to come back for that,” Delawder said. “We did, and we’ve come back every year. It’s a good time.”

The gospel music group Larry Delawder and Family — which includes Larry, his wife and their two daughters, ages 16 and 13 — was one of 30 gospel musical acts from 14 states that performed at the 25th Annual Floyd Gospel Sing.

The 2019 event began Friday morning in the Floyd Community Park and continued all day Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, many of the groups took part in church services at different denominations throughout the area.

The Floyd Gospel Sing was started in 1995 by Pastor Paul and Dixie Phillips of the Gospel Lighthouse Church in Floyd. As the singers performed Saturday, vendors sold their merchandise in the park and children played.

Food was served at a stand to the south of the park and at the community center. Proceeds from concessions go to support the Lighthouse Academy Christian school.

Despite an occasional light drizzle, more than 1,000 people — most of them seated in lawn chairs — were gathered at the venue on Saturday afternoon when Delawder and Family took the stage.

Each act gets about 20 minutes of stage time at a time, with some groups performing two or three different times Friday and Saturday.

The Delawder’s set also includes some comedy and crowd interaction along with the music.

As a part of the act, Delawder — who has been singing and performing since he was a 6-year-old — dresses as fictional Mayberry Deputy Barney Fife from “The Andy Griffith Show” and jokes with audience members.

“We have a lot of fun with that. Somebody told me one time that if you can get people to laugh with you, they’ll listen to what you have to say, and that’s always stuck with me,” Delawder said.

Delawder, who is also very fluent on the harmonica, said that with the short sets, his group doesn’t have much time to do a lot of testimonial.

“Most groups sing, but I’ve got Barney, the harmonica, and our group singing, so I’ve got to keep moving,” he said. “It’s hard to stop and really talk about deeper things, but there are enough groups here that do that, so we can just do our thing.”

He said there’s more to the performance when the group plays its regular longer sets.

“In our personal concerts, when we have more time, we get the chance to talk about the Lord and what he means to us, what he’s done for us and what he can do for you,” Delawder said.

Delawder impressed the audience with his abilities on the harmonica. He said that he was taught how to play “Amazing Grace” on the instrument when he was 13 years old, and he’s been self-taught ever since.

“I asked the Lord to teach me how to play, and I said, ‘Lord, if you teach me how to play, I’ll always give you the credit for it,’ because since that first lesson, I’ve never had a teacher,” he said. “The Lord taught me how to play.”