Music festival offers melodious distraction

The sign at Arena Park promoting the City of Roses Music Festival this weekend says: "Music is freedom." Now more than ever, folks should enjoy a good dose of the freedom that will be on display there.

Rock 'n' roll will have center stage at the festival in downtown Cape Girardeau today and Saturday -- legends Lee Oskar and Eddie Money will grace that stage in separate performances -- but what will make the fifth annual event special will be its musical diversity.

Folk singers will dominate the Themis Street Stage across from Grace Cafe and at In the Wine Cellar. There will be gospel music on Sunday, wrapping up the event.

And it's not only about music. There will be a fine-art fair from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, with more than 20 booths set up in the former grocery store parking lot on Spanish Street.

What a great opportunity for Southeast Missouri residents to come together and enjoy themselves in this serious time.