Celebrating the power of music

The kids arrived in black, as Deon Borchard expected. Their noses, eyebrows and tongues were pierced. Black lipstick covered their lips.

They were the kids so many people tried desperately to ignore rather than reveal discomfort at their appearance. But not Deon.

“They were really nice,” she says, thinking back to the punk show The Long Ear music store, which she owns with her husband, Terry, produced in Coeur d’Alene last year. “It was 106 degrees. They drank a lot of water and there was no mess.”

No wonder the Borchards have stayed in business 31 years. Appearances don’t mean much to them. They know the soul-soothing power of music and they’re determined to make it available to everyone. That’s why they’ve scheduled another Earfest for this year. The annual daylong free live music festival isn’t a moneymaker. The Borchards pencil it into their budget like most people plan their family reunions.

“It’s a lot of work, but boy, is it a party,” Deon says, grinning. “It’s so much fun. We have great friends here. It’s our annual barbecue.”

The party has evolved since the Borchards started it in 2000. Musicians inside the store and out prompted drivers to detour off busy Fourth Street and postpone trips on Interstate 90 to check out the reason people were dancing in the Long Ear’s parking lot.

The Borchards had just moved the store and threw the party to familiarize the area with the new location. They were speechless when more than 2,000 people stopped by. They also were exhausted but pleased with the one-time affair’s success.

That success had musicians ringing the Long Ear phone and filling the mailbox with sample CDs for months. Deon and Terry couldn’t say no to the pleas for a second Earfest. Accidentally, they’d started a tradition.

Earfest changed as the Long Ear evolved from a strictly music store to an import emporium. The same urge that drove Deon and Terry to relax the masses through music compelled them to introduce the minds they’d calmed to improving the world for other people. They began displaying handmade baskets, thumb pianos, rosewood flutes and more from around the world. They added Buddha statues and dragons. The money raised helped crafters in small villages worldwide start their own businesses and feed their families.

The people-helping-people idea carried into the fourth Earfest last year. The Borchards invited local charities to set up booths and make some money from the crowds that came to hear the music. Charities were conservative and sold packaged chips and cookies. Deon was disappointed.

“We had a vibrant audience willing to get involved,” she says.

The audience was most willing to skateboard on the classy ramp the Long Ear set up for the day, guzzle bottles of water in the heat, and listen and dance to music, says Tinka Shaffer, a director at Children’s Village. Tinka was grateful the Long Ear offered her nonprofit children’s shelter an opportunity to raise money and spread the word about what it does, but people don’t attend Earfest to learn about charities, she says.

“Deon is so giving back to the community and the kids there at Earfest are wonderful,” she says. “But it wasn’t financially beneficial for us.”

Deon invited Children’s Village back for this year’s Earfest on Sept. 18, but Tinka declined. So the Long Ear will continue to promote global understanding with its clientele.

Since last year, the Borchards have added to the store treeless cards that offer customers a chance to save a tree and still send a greeting. The cards are made from fibrous plants that grow three feet a month. Skirts, dresses and T-shirt tops hang from the Long Ear’s slatted walls now and Tibetan lanterns and lighted stars hang from the ceiling. Racks carry sarongs and sundresses. And every kind of body jewelry gleams from a display case in the store’s center. Deon, who’s not a fan of body piercing, accepts the inexpensive jewelry grudgingly because it’s surgical steel and safer than some of the cheap studs available to kids.

“We’ve had requests for it for years, but I fought it,” she says.

The merchandise from around the globe is intriguing, but music still is the Long Ear’s priority. That’s why this year’s Earfest will feature six musicians inside the store and seven groups outside on a covered purple stage the Borchards built specifically for the festival. Deon wanted fewer performers, but Earfest already has a reputation. Musicians beg to perform.

Experience has taught the Borchards to offer less sideshow. The break dancers, jugglers and belly dancers at last year’s festival won’t return this year, but Skateboarders for Christ will manage skate ramps again. Deon is considering a beer garden for adults and a root-beer garden for kids. She’ll hang a glittering disco ball.

“I really want to keep the family orientation,” she says. “And make a difference. We can do that.”

Earfest 2004 will run from noon to 10 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Long Ear, 2405 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene. Admission is free.