'50s fun Still rockin' 30 years on
<p>Lost in the ‘50s volunteer committee members pose with a classic car as the group readies for this year’s concerts, car show and parade. Standing in back, from left: Betty O’Donnell, Carlene White, Sally Transue, Lost in the ‘50s founder Carolyn Gleason, T-Bird owner Steve Tillberg and Needie Kennedy. In foreground, from left: Julie Larkin, Donna Deshon and Jennifer Leedy. (Photo by DAVID GUNTER)</p>
SANDPOINT — The annual car show and oldies concert extravaganza we now know as Lost in the ’50s would never have happened, but for a near-miss to catch a legend on stage.
Event founder Carolyn Gleason had a chance to see Elvis Presley perform in Spokane in the mid-1970s, but passed because she had to work. Another time, she thought. Within a couple years, Presley was dead.
“Oh, my God — I missed my chance to see the King,” Gleason said, recalling her reaction at the time.
Not prone to make the same mistake twice, she amalgamated her love for rock ‘n’ roll, classic cars and record collecting and came up with a very bright idea: A concert series that would create a venue for these rock pioneers while they were still alive and on the road.
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