Tuesday, July 2, 2024
After what could be considered a life-long commitment to his community, Ronald Medart recently stepped down as president of the Pearl Community Center and his involvement with the Pearl Bluegrass event, which has taken place each month since 1997.
Medart, age 87, was born and raised in the Pearl community of Coryell County. He attended school at Pearl and graduated with the class of 1955 – walking across the very same stage to receive his diploma where he recently received a certificate of appreciation for his years of devotion to the Pearl Community Center and the Bluegrass Festival.
After the school closed, the building sat vacant for a few years before it was decided that it would be used for class and family reunions.
“Well, we started re-doing the building in January of 1997, and then, in October of 1997, we started having music,” Medart said. “We finally decided to have Blue Grass itself and we sent out notices to have everyone start coming to Pearl, and the first time they showed up, we had a fairly good crowd in 1997,” Medart said.
As years went by, the Pearl Bluegrass Festival began to blossom as word spread across the state and into neighboring states. “This auditorium will seat about 275, and, sometimes, when a certain band would be here, there would be 50 or 60 lined up around the walls,” he said.
As the popularity of the monthly event grew, Medart knew that “Pearl had something to offer.”
Upon his retirement as president of the community center’s board of directors, Medart said, “I’ve enjoyed it. I’ll enjoy it as I continue to come up here every month. Like I’ve said, if you don’t have anything to enjoy tomorrow, you’ve got to enjoy something you do the rest of your life, and I enjoy this. I plan on playing my guitar more and now I can go in the practice rooms and play more.”
