"I don't know!" said Ryan Stevenson, general manager of The Cotillion Ballroom, when asked why the Wichita venue, now in its 64th year, had not previously been inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame.
"There are always people who deserve to go into the Hall of Fame."
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place Saturday at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. The list of inductees includes Karrin Allyson, Ric Averill, Angela Hagenbach, Son Venezuela, The Scamps, Rick Faris, Philip Anschutz, Anthony Jermaine White (aka J. White Did It) and The Cotillion Ballroom.
The Cotillion will receive the Ad Astra Award. The Hall of Fame's website says the award was "created primarily to honor the non-Performer, music, and music-related institutions of Kansas/Greater Kanas City that have made an exceptionally significant and impactful contribution to the history of music in the region."
The Cotillion is a place that many local and regional musicians aspire to play in, and it stands as a reminder that such institutions provide a platform for musicians to have their work performed in.
"It's part of the whole ecosystem of live music," Stevenson said.
Stevenson joined The Cotillion staff when the venue was owned by Richard and Catherine Leslie. Richard Leslie, whose father was an original investor in the venue, came to the "round mound of sound" in the 1970s and remained there until he sold to Adam Hartke and Alex Thomas in 2018.
No matter who has owned the venue, it remains a place that performers of all levels seem to remember.
"People don't walk in and say, 'I don't know if I've been here before,' " Stevenson said. "We're round, we've got the bandshell. We're unique.
"It's always nice to hear from touring acts who say, 'I was here in the '70s' or whenever they were here last. They walk in, and they know they've been here."
