I was bursting with pride Friday night at the Bayfield Performing Arts Center.

First, the darned thing got built last year, and it's wonderful.

Second, Bayfield was actually hosting a performance by Music in the Mountains. Two, in fact.

The Durango-based music festival might have been willing to host concerts here before, but we didn't have a place for them to perform.

The event was a topic of conversation at church on Sunday among our music-loving parishioners. I said I wished the auditorium had been full, but one of my music mom friends pointed out it was a pretty good crowd for Bayfield on a Friday night when many of us have left for the mountains or the lake.

Another friend said he had heard grumbling about the cost of the property tax increase voters approved to pay for the bond to build the auditorium. The bond issue included a second gym at the high school and a proper school baseball field, which we did not have before.

Even though he is the parent and grandparent of athletes, my friend said he supported the bond issue primarily for the auditorium.

"We need to invest in those kids, too," he said, referring to the musicians and actors who now have a proper performance venue.

Music doesn't sound good in a high school gym, and school plays in a cafeteria leave a lot to be desired.

The conservatory students played brilliantly on Friday. For college and high school students, they sounded great.

I heard the July 16 performance by Johnny Irion and Sarah Lee Guthrie was excellent, too.

Thank you, Music in the Mountains, for bringing music of such a caliber to Bayfield. We hope you'll come back.

Thanks for reading.