Coming to Bug Days: Boomerang
Nona Fay has been singing since she was four years old as a soloist and with various groups. Now, the Minneota native will take to the stage again during Boxelder Bug Days, this time as lead vocalist with Boomerang, a group she has been performing with on and off for the past five years.
Nona Fay will be joined on stage by Scott, Ken, and Kelly Hammerschmidt, all of Redwood Falls. Ken is Kelly’s father and Scott’s brother.
Boomerang will perform at 2:30 p.m. and again at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on the main stage in the Boxelder Bug Square. This will be the first time Nona Fay has appeared with Boomerang during Boxelder Bug Days, although she has performed here several other times solo, with her daughter Kassandra, or with various groups. “I love playing here,” said Nona Fay.
“It’s always fun playing during Boxelder Bug Days. And I love playing with the Hammerschmidts. They are great musicians.”
Nona Fay started out performing on stage at the age of 16 as a guest singer with The Lakeland Troubadors and has been performing ever since.
After graduating from Minneota in 1986, Nona Fay headed to Nashville to pursue her dream and spent three years there before returning to her hometown. She then joined the band Four Wheel Drive and it was during this time that her daughter, Kassandra, was born 25 years ago.
Nona Fay then performed with the group Roxbury Drive and recorded a pair of albums with Hall of Fame songwriter Dennis Morgan, a native of Tracy, who has written songs for many famous singers during his illustrious career.
“He heard us playing at Key Largo (at Lake Shetek south of Tracy) and loves us and asked us if we wanted to record an album,” Fay noted. “So we did a cassette with him in 1994 and a CD in 1995.”
Nona Fay’s first solo album, a gospel CD entitled First Things First, was launched in 2008. She joined Boomerang five years ago after an answering their ad for a lead vocalist.
The Hammerschmidts come from a musical background. Ken and Scott started out playing drums and now play guitar with Boomerang. Kelly started out playing guitar at an early age and is now the drummer for a band in Mankato, as well as Boomerang. Ken Hammerschmidt’s parents, grandparents, siblings, and three children have all been involved with music.
He has worked in and started several bands over the years that have included funk, country, blues, jazz, rock and more. He also sings both lead and back-up.
Ken also owns his own business in Redwood Falls in which he buys and sells musical instruments and other collectibles. He also teaches guitar lessons at his store.
Scott Hammerschmidt got his start playing in his parents’ variety band as a teenager, and also with his brothers in a rock band. He still plays the drums and sings both lead and back-up.
Kelly Hammerschmidt, who is a student at Minnesota State, Mankato, learned to play guitar at age 15 so he could perform on stage with his father with Boomerang. He began playing drums the next year.
He has been the drummer in a rock band called SueCity from Mankato for the past eight years. Other musical performances, back by popular demand, will be Route 68, Kayla Daniels, IV Play and Gig Noonan. Route 68, a former Minneota Community Band that now features a group of musicians from southwest Minnesota, will be performing on stage at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Route 68, which is directed by John Voit, plays big band and jazz. Daniels, who has played here several times during Boxelder Bug Days and recently sang at City Hall Bar & Grill, will perform at 1:30 p.m. and again at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Daniels, much like Fay, recently returned to the area after pursuing a singing career in Nashville. She is a native of Tracy. IV Play, who also performed here a year ago, will be playing at the street dance Saturday from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The five performers that make up the band — Tyler Dylla, Jeremy Poland, Lantz Dale, Wes Bollingmo and Erich Winter — are from the Mankato area and have been together since 1999.
IV Play is a premiere rock band that plays 80s and 90s rock, hot pop and country of today. Gig Noonan, who’s been a mainstay at Boxelder Bug Days, will perform at 11 a.m. and again at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Mike and Cindy Noonan, are from Paynesville and perform music genres from classic, country, classic rock and new country.