By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
It was a third consecutive busy night in downtown Decatur, following the Sweetwater All-Stars on Thursday and the annual Sculpture Tour on Friday.
This time, on Saturday night, it was to celebrate the life of Connor Brite and to support the program that his tragic loss has wrought.
For more than six hours, large numbers of people visited the Madison St. Plaza at various times and the second Connor Brite’s Wildflowers benefit, amid continued excellent weather and the thoughts of a 20-year-old whose love of music loomed over the night.
Food, friendship and family were in vogue as well as the music. Ethan Jo Corral got it started with a solo effort on his guitar, then came a band comprised of students from the School of Rock in Fort Wayne.
Winding up the evening with an incredible amount of energy was the six-member Good Night Gracie band out of Fort Wayne. They had the plaza jumping for over two hours.
But perhaps the most poignant music of the night was performed by a local woman, Teri Morningstar, and her student, Landon Rich. Morningstar is one of the instructors for the Connor Bright’s Wildflowers free music program and Rich was the first student chosen for the program.
As Landon strummed his guitar, Teri sang “Wildflowers (see photo),” the Tom Petty song which titles the music instruction program. It was a favorite of Connor’s and the only CD which survived the horrific June 7, 2020, crash which took the lives of Connor and his friends, Jordan Fuelling and Trevor Ortiz.
The music instruction program, which has 11 students and five instructors, began several weeks ago.