Early Voting Line Entertainment Committee Books Kazoo Quartet, Regrets It Within 40 Minutes

MAPLE COUNTY — The Early Voting Line Entertainment Committee’s bold experiment ended Tuesday after exactly 40 minutes, when the booked kazoo quartet — the Kazoos of Harmony — was thanked, paid in full, and gently escorted from the courthouse lawn by two deputies and one very tired committee chair.

The quartet had been hired to lift spirits during the expected long lines of the first early voting day. Instead, their 25-minute medley of patriotic standards, played entirely on kazoos at what witnesses called impressive volume, produced a line that moved backward as voters retreated to their cars.

We wanted joy, said committee chair Debbie Ann Larkin, massaging her temples. We got kazoos. There is a difference, and we now understand it completely. The committee’s post-event survey found that 82 percent of voters rated the entertainment memorable, a word Larkin noted is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

The quartet’s leader, Skip Donnelly, was gracious in defeat. He said the group has played county fairs, parades, and one wedding, and that the early voting crowd was, in his words, a tough room with excellent civic participation. He added that the group’s rate — $200 plus gas — remains unchanged for future bookings, though he acknowledged the elections office is unlikely to rebook.

The committee is now pivoting to what Larkin calls passive entertainment: a local high school jazz trio (unamplified, 30-minute sets), a magician who performs only for children under 10, and a chalk artist who draws encouraging messages on the sidewalk, weather permitting. All acts must audition, must not use kazoos, and must sign the committee’s new 12-point performance agreement, which includes the phrase volume appropriate to a library.

Voter feedback has been constructive. One voter suggested comfortable benches instead of entertainment. Another suggested the committee simply hand out the I Voted stickers early, which the elections office rejected on chronological grounds. A third suggested nothing, smiled warmly, and voted, which Larkin called the ideal outcome.

The Kazoos of Harmony have since been booked for the county fair’s opening ceremony, where organizers say the outdoor venue and festive atmosphere will be a better fit. Donnelly says the group holds no grudges and has already added a new number to its set: a kazoo arrangement of a song about voting, which he described as catchy and the committee described as a threat.

Early voting continues through Friday. The jazz trio performs at noon. The chalk artist works the morning shift. The kazoos, mercifully, are at the fair.