Jim Reed, Ted Bodensteiner and all the other volunteers who make up Shellabration Inc. have pulled off another musical masterpiece.

Last Saturday, thousands of people crammed into the intersection of Central Avenue and Ninth Street for this year’s Downtown Country Jam. They were treated to rousing performances by the Tank Anthony Band, Jake McVey and Big & Rich.

Hundreds of local volunteers worked behind the scenes for months to make the show possible, then shifted into really high gear the day before the concert to get everything set up. Then the day after the show, they took down the stage and restored the intersection to its normal state.

It is worth noting that no one on the Shellabration Inc. team is a professional concert promoter or organizer. They all have regular jobs in the community. When it comes to planning concerts, they put their energy and unrestrained enthusiasm to work, supported by lessons learned from organizing events for the past 20 years.

The Shellabration Inc. saga began in 2002, when Reed and then City Councilman John Hale organized a concert to raise money for the restoration of the Oleson Park Bandshell. That concert featured The Fab Four, a Beatles tribute band.

That was the first of several fundraising concerts the duo organized to pay for the bandshell project. Shows by Three Dog Night, The Doobie Brothers, Chicago and other performers usually seen only in major cities followed.

After the bandshell project was finished, Shellabration Inc. began setting aside profits from the concerts to help pay for future concerts.

Then in 2017, a new genre of music was added with the Downtown Country Jam. The site was picked by Reed, who apparently has a unique gift for looking at a rather basic downtown intersection and envisioning people gathering there for a concert. The Downtown Country Jam has featured Randy Houser and Chris Janson, among others.

We who live in Fort Dodge and surrounding communities are beyond lucky to be able to enjoy this high caliber of musical entertainment right here at home. It is all thanks to the efforts of the Shellabration Inc. volunteers.

Shellabration Inc. is a true asset to the community, enhancing its quality of life with outstanding musical entertainment.