Outdoor Concert Festival

Braun Brothers Reunion, otherwise known as BBR, is an outdoor music festival that started in 1979 by the Braun Family. The dad "Musty" had 3 boys Gary, Billy, and Muzzie, who were all musicians following in their father's footsteps. The 3 adult boys gathered together once a year to in Stanley, Idaho, to celebrate their record releases with a one-day outdoor concert. That annual gathering grew into a 3-day festival with followers. 

Muzzie & his wife Joann had four sons: Cody, Willy, Gary, and Micky. Muzzie & Joann raised their four sons in Challis, and the boys continued in the family legacy by making music together from their childhood. As adults, Cody & Willy created the band Reckless Kelly, and Gary & Micky created the band Micky and the Motorcars, both based out of Texas now. However, the family still gets together every summer to put on the BBR for its faithful fans. Eventually BBR outgrew its venue in Stanley and the Brauns moved the growing annual event to the Challis Golf Course in 2003, paying homage to the town that the four boys were raised. 

Josh and I have heard about BBR for many years, but we've never gone to it. In fact, the first music concert that either of us had ever been to was in 2006. We realized then that we both loved concerts, and couldn't believe how much we'd been missing out on, so after our first concert, we vowed that we would go to one concert a year. The last concert we went to was the Piano Guys in December of 2019. After that...the pandemic happened and as a result, music tours and concerts shut down. We've really missed them! Josh decided that THIS was the year we were FINALLY going to go to BBR. 

Josh is friends with the people who run the Challis Golf Course, because they work together on a few projects throughout the year as a result of being the only two golf courses in the region. The Challis Golf Course runs the beer booth at the 3-day music festival, and if you volunteer at a shift, you get free access to the concert for all 3 days. The festival ran from Thursday, August 12 to Saturday, August 14. Josh signed us up for the 4-hour night shift on Saturday (which was also my birthday!).

We went on Thursday afternoon, and couldn't believe how many people were there already. It was a MASSIVE gathering on the hill of the driving range (approx. 5,000 people, which is more than the town's population!). At the base of the hill is a bandstand that the Brauns built for the annual event there. On the west side of the hill was the performers' merchandise stands and a food booth, on the east side of the hill was all the porta-potties and the beer booth and a wine booth, and in the far back was where people who want to bring pop-up tents sit. We took our camp chairs and we sat about half-way up the field. The music was so good, but our very favorite band that night was Jeff Crosby & The Refugees. He was born and raised in Idaho, just like the Braun boys, which was cool. We LOVED his voice and the band's style of music. 

On Friday, we drove back down to Challis, arriving in time to hear the first band of the line-up perform. We enjoyed ourselves immensely! It's a family affair--and there were oldies and young people alike. We had fun watching the crowd almost as much as we loved listening to and watching the performers!!

On Saturday, the festivities started earlier than the previous two days, and the first performers on the line-up were the Braun Family members. That was my FAVORITE performance of the day! There were a lot less people in the crowds at that time, too, which was nice, so we got up pretty close to the stage. I loved watching the family members interact on the stage, and it was amazing how many instruments they each play and how gifted their voices were, too! It was definitely a highlight for me!

Muzzie

Josh and I surprisingly had SO much fun working in the beer booth! I ran the orders and took the money, and Josh was the runner getting the drinks people asked for. We were a good team! It was a major undertaking--that beer booth. The opportunity to run the booth for 3 days basically supplies the golf course the money to run its entire annual budget! In that beer tent, there were 6 stations with 2 people working at each station. Behind the scenes, there's also people who refill the troughs with ice and break down boxes of beer from the semi truck full of the product set up behind the tent. The customers were fun, and although it was taxing on our feet, we thought it was worth it for the free entrance to the concert! After our session ended, there was about twenty minutes left of the concert, so Josh danced with me in the grassy area by our camp chairs, and then we headed home. We decided we would definitely do it again, but it would even be more fun to have friends join us next time!

Our favorite performer from BBR, other than the Braun family, was Jeff Crosby. We learned at his merchandise booth that he would be performing in Salmon just a few weeks later at the venue Sweet Water Hollow. Of course we knew we had to go! We invited our friends the Jackson's to join us this time. The evening was truly magical! We arrived early and ate dinner up on the deck by the restaurant, and then as the sun set, we were smitten by the ambience of the venue and the music in the air, and we danced the rest of the night away on the grassy ground in front of the stage with many other locals. We met Jeff's girlfriend and bought a lot of his CD's, and loved listening to him and her sing a couple of duets together on the stage, too. We even got a photo opp with him afterwards! It was one of my favorite nights of the whole summer!