By: Robin Ford Wallace, Reporter

“The best things in life are free,” goes one old saying, but here’s one that’s even folksier: “Love don’t pay the bills.”

And paying the bills is what has preoccupied Gary Patterson since in August he was named commander of Trenton’s American Legion Post 106. Patterson was, in fact, hard at it behind the checkbook when the Sentinel popped in on Saturday to ask him about the recent demise of what had become one of Dade County’s favorite free entertainments – the Legion’s Thursday-night “Pickin’ at the Post.”

The bluegrass sessions started roughly a year ago and became steadily more popular until, a couple of weeks ago, they were abruptly canceled. Patterson says the reason why boils down to the usual suspect:  money. “I guess because it had always been free, essentially, that everyone thought it was supposed to be free,” he said. 

It was when the Post made the decision to charge admission that things went south, explained Patterson.

Pickin’ at the Post Thursdays sometimes featured other bands, but the staple act was always a loose association of local musicians who called themselves the Dade County Boys. These included talented amateurs – Dade County Executive Ted Rumley recently filled in on guitar for Chief Magistrate Judge Joel McCormick, who usually played every week – as well as the occasional seriously big gun: In earlier months, the Boys were sometimes joined by Norman Blake, the Rising Fawn legend who shot to international fame with the soundtrack of Hollywood’s O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The Boys played for fun, and audience members got in for free. The American Legion sold hot dogs and hamburgers to generate revenues – but never, said Patterson, enough hot dogs. 

“The Pickin’ was actually doing very well, except that, based on the numbers our finance officer came up with, we were losing close to $2,000 every month overall,” said Patterson. “So we were going through every event, every fundraiser, everything we do, and trying to find ways to raise revenue and cut expenses.” 

It was the popularity of the Thursday night performances that led Patterson and the Post’s financial officer, Peter Cervelli, to come up with the idea of charging admission for them. “Honestly, we thought that the music that they played was good enough that people would be willing to spend $5 a head to come in and listen to it,” said Patterson. “But I think that when people get something for free, they don’t value it.” 

What he and Cervelli proposed, said Patterson, was that the pickers pay the Post $75 a night, the typical rental fee for the building, then charge admission at the door to recoup that cost. 

“Well, they said they would do it,” said Patterson. “Then, the following Thursday, they had a smaller turnout than they had the previous Thursday, and they all talked about it and decided they didn’t want to do it – so they parted ways with the Post.”

Admission dropped abruptly from 60-plus nightly to 20 to 25, said Patterson. 

The sticking point for the band, from Patterson’s as well as Ted Rumley’s account, was that $75 rental fee. “Of all the places I’ve played, sometimes they don’t pay you but they don’t usually ask you to pay them,” said Rumley, asked about it later.

Patterson said much the same. “Carl basically told me they didn’t think they should have to pay and they didn’t want to charge people,” he said, referring to Dade County Boys’ mainstay, Carl Towns of Acoustic Outlet. “In a perfect world, that might be the way it works, but unfortunately things cost money. The heating and air cost money. The electricity running the coffeemaker costs money. Everything costs money, and if we’re not charging people for it, it’s coming directly out of the money we have in the bank.”

But Patterson added ruefully that ending the Thursday night Pickin’s would make the Legion’s pecuniary picture worse rather than better. “I think we’ll wind up losing a couple hundred dollars more a month,” he said.

Patterson says that since he replaced Bill Lockhart as commander, the Legion’s grim financial situation has demanded more of his attention than makes for a happy term of office. “The first thing when I took over, I came in here and there was a stack of mail over there,” he said. “I started going through it and they were all unpaid bills, past-due bills.”

Things are slightly improved now, he said: The past-dues are dealt with, and the Trenton post sold its mortgage to Ringgold Post 40, which charges a much lower interest rate than the bank did. “We are now paying them $800 a month instead of Bank of Dade $1,200 a month,” he said. “It will actually allow us to pay down the principal instead of what was happening at Bank of Dade, which was nothing was ever getting paid off.”

At last week’s Dade County Commission meeting, Ted Rumley – joking that his brief stint pinch-hitting behind the guitar had shut the gig down – appealed for citizens to support the Legion. The Sentinel asked Patterson how they could do that, especially now that the popular Thursdays are a thing of the past.

 “They can come out and play Bingo,” replied Patterson. “They can come out for Gospel Night. They can come out for any other fundraisers that we have.” 

The Legion's doors open at 5:30 or 6 p.m. each Monday for Gospel Night, at which admission will remain free, and on Friday and Saturday for Bingo, which Patterson says remains the Post's most dependable moneymaker.  Shows begin at 7 p.m., and the Post Café sells food before and during.

Additionally, the Post Café, which since Patterson's tenure has closed for breakfast except for on Saturdays, will once again extend its morning hours. "Beginning this week, we're going to be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for breakfast," he said.

Patterson urges Dade to come to the Legion not just for breakfast but to help brainstorm. “We need the community to support the Post, and unfortunately the support we need really is financial,” he said. “But it would be nice to have some people come in and say, hey, let’s get together and see what kind of events we could put on, what kinds of fundraiser we could do – not just members but people in the community.”

As for the Pickin’ nights, Patterson said that he loved them and will miss them as much as anybody, and that he wishes the musicians had tried a little harder to make the admission fee plan work. “I think if they had stuck with it, it would have worked out, because the music was good,” he said. “There was never any complaint about the music.”

American Legion Post 106 can be reached at (706) 657-5275.