Charleston surprise: Pianos and praise

The official dogwood-azalea festival in Charleston, Mo., was last weekend. But if you visit what I consider to be the prettiest town in Missouri this weekend, you won't be disappointed.

We met so many friendly Charlestonians during our visit on a gray, drizzly Saturday. Those who went Sunday got the full benefit of bright sunshine. There was some disappointment that this spring's weather had delayed the blossoms for which the festival is rightly famous. The warm smiles and cheerfulness of everyone we met made up for the clouds in the sky.

This weekend will likely have even better blooms than last weekend's official festival. That's good for those of you who are more interested in azaleas and dogwoods than all of the activities on the jam-packed festival schedule.

My wife and I went to Natchez, Miss., a few years ago for the spring tour when that Mississippi River town's azaleas and dogwoods are at their peak and many of the antebellum homes are open for tours or offer overnight accommodations and sumptuous meals.

We had a fantastic visit to Natchez and enjoyed our miles on the amazing Natchez Trace Parkway. Without intending to sound too much like a travel agent, we would heartily recommend a Natchez visit during the spring.

But you know what? Charleston is just as lovely and gracious as Natchez. And a heckuva lot closer.

We had originally planned an outing to Lake Barkley in Kentucky last weekend. But when the sun didn't come out Saturday morning, we went to Plan B, a visit to the museum and dinosaur exhibit in Marble Hill, Mo. We've heard so many good things about the museum, which we used to pass on a regular basis during our trips to my favorite hometown in the Ozark hills over yonder.

Then the sun peeked through the clouds a couple of times late Saturday morning, and we remembered how beautiful Charleston is this time of year and decided to go south. Lake Barkley and the Marble Hill museum will be there other weekends. The Charleston festival is only one weekend a year.

The Charleston blossoms were not quite as far along as residents there had hoped, but the town put on a good face anyway, demonstrating once again that Southern hospitality does not hinge on fair weather but on the gracious and welcoming hearts of those who greet strangers with smiles and treat them like long lost family members.

After taking the driving tour of the magnificent residential showplaces, we headed back to downtown Charleston to stop at an art show at a Main Street gallery in a building that used to be a funeral parlor. As we were leaving the gallery, my wife asked if there was a public restroom nearby. Why, yes, said the lovely woman who owned the gallery. The First Baptist Church just across the street had restrooms we could use. She walked us out of the gallery and to the corner to point out the door we should use at the church.

Then she stopped and thought a moment. "Well, I think that's the right door. I go to church there, but I don't go to the restroom."

We all had a good laugh.

Sure enough, the restrooms were just inside the appointed door. From the church's auditorium a few steps away, we heard pianos -- that's right, several pianos -- being played. A woman in the hallway explained that it was an annual tradition during the dogwood-azalea festival to have the multiple-piano concerts -- two on Saturday and one on Sunday -- called Piano Praise Concerts. With seven pianos, five of them grand pianos, at the front of the beautiful, chandeliered auditorium, the middle section of the concerts featured 12 pianists at once. The standing-room-only crowd was delighted.

What an amazing moment of serendipity to go to a church to use a restroom and wind up listening to beautiful music.

See. That's another reason to rate Charleston as the prettiest town in Missouri. It's beautiful to look at -- and beautiful to listen to. What a deal.

R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.