Booking Western Tour 2018!

Hello friends! We are excited to announce that after seven years since we've been there, we will be returning to the west coast in 2018! We have been booking the tour for a while already but are finalizing now and still have a few spots left for California, Arizona, Oregon, and Idaho.
We will be there March/April of 2018, and if you live in one of those states and are interested in booking a concert with us, we would love to hear from you!
Drop us a line via email, info@bontragerfamilysingers.com, or give us a call, #319-330-4513

Northern Tour 2017 || Post #15

How we love this little country church in Slana! It's the only one for miles around and has as its members the cream of the crop of the Alaska pioneers. 

Such a great night singing there and meeting the homesteaders from the surrounding areas.

What a view, and such a sweet house overlooking the rivers! We enjoyed spending some time here with our hosts, who had become dear friends last time we were in Alaska.

They live off the land and do rustic wilderness rentals + trapping as their occupation. We loved their stories + hospitality!

The husband does the trapping and his wife makes all manner of amazing products, like this hat, with some of the furs.

Denver getting the lowdown on some of the prize furs.

Dinner time. What a spread!

Sweet time around the table!

Time to go down to the lake and get lunch! 

Fish prep lessons with Miss Joy. =)

Northern Tour 2017 || Post #14

We got to spend July 4th on American soil, celebrating our country with the town of Tok, Alaska! We gave a concert at their annual town celebration. It was a chilly but sunny day and we had a delightful time!

We got to participate in a few of the activities!

We drove to our hosts' home afterwards and spent a few hours there. Food, zip lining, chatting, and exploring were the evening activities!

Matching brother love. =)

Ready to zip across the creek!

Fun with friends.

And...a quick hike up the mountain before we headed out that night!

2017 Turning Hearts Celebration Cancellation

This is a somewhat sad announcement to make, but we are announcing (formally, finally-it has been so busy and I just now realized that we forgot to post about it) that we are canceling our annual Turning Hearts Celebration for this year.

Honestly, it takes something HUGE for us to cancel this event, as evidenced by prior years---we have done it year after year even with full schedules, a very pregnant mama (two different years) and many other conflicts.

But after considerable prayer and family discussion, it was decided that two weddings on the farm Friday, one wedding at the church Saturday, and a mini-reunion with our out-of-state family staying over for Sunday...would probably keep us fairly occupied this coming Labor Day weekend, and following all that up with the 16th Annual Turning Hearts Celebration on Monday would be...probably not the best idea. =) We are sad to cancel but at the same time extremely excited for the weddings and all that God is doing!  After all, the reason we originally started the Turning Hearts Celebration was as testimony and reminder each year to God's faithfulness and providence in my father turning his heart to his family all those years ago, and us turning our hearts to him. Although we will not be able to celebrate it this year with friends and strangers alike, as we have done for the past fifteen years, still we will be remembering and celebrating with something else that is definitely a direct result and culmination of that vision and heart change! And that is the grace-filled stories of three godly young men each marrying godly, beautiful young women, and preparing to start their own legacies for the next generation.

So really we will still be celebrating, just not in the annual public way we normally do. =)

Stay tuned-one or both weddings will possibly be live-streamed, so we may be able to share these days with you, our blog friends, in that way!

Thank-y'all SO much for understanding, and go ahead and mark your calendars for the continuation of the Turning Hearts Celebration for NEXT year, September 3rd, 2018!

"And He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

Malachi 4:6

Northern Tour 2017 || Post #13

Sound check in Fairbanks! We didn't make it all the way up to Fairbanks in 2013, so this was our first time to this town! It was a great 24 hours there. We were blessed to meet/connect with a lot of people in spite of the very short time we had.

Out for dinner with the assist. pastor + his wife at this incredible Fairbanks place. The plates were pretty cool. =) And the dinner was fabulous!

All ten of us!

Violin lineup for sibling cooperation!

Evening concert.

Dad preached a great message after we sang.

It was so good to see old friends and meet new ones! Mom enjoyed spending a few hours with this young mom, daughter of the mission's director from our home church.

One of our very favorite things about our travels is all the Bible Bee friends we get to see! What a treat to spend a few hours (right before we left town Thursday morning) with this Bible Bee/Alaska missionary, family.

Northern Tour 2017 || Post #12

Our first stop in Alaska! We were delighted to be back again in the little town of Skagway, Alaska, giving a concert Sunday night (a week ago) at the town public school, and enjoying a little time in the town on Monday. 

Sound check ahead of time. Note the little head sticking out of the announcers box up along the wall. Rebecca had to take advantage of an opportunity to be taller than everyone else, for once. =)

Pre concert instrument tuning, people meeting, and all-around preparing. 

Our family is shrinking! We used to have such a long line up for family intros and we honestly feel like such a little crew these days. =) Well, just in concert that is. As dad says every night when he tells the crowds about our current exciting family happenings, "We're not losing three sons...we're gaining three daughters!"

Discussing + plotting the best routes for a family hike. 

All ten of us!

Beautiful view from partway up the mountain.

Loved catching up with this friend (daughter of the pastor's family who hosted us) at her sweet little coffee shop that she owns + runs! 

Northern Tour 2017 || Post #11

Here is a little glimpse into life on the road. Bear in mind, it is a VERY tiny glimpse. But just to give you an idea of a few things that go on, other than doing concerts and meeting hundreds and hundreds of people every week...

Above...music lessons! Rebecca is a very focused + gifted little student and we have great fun having piano lessons all over the country in various churches. =) 

And right along with music lessons come loads of music practice! There is a lot of individual practice, yes, but also quite a bit of group practice, especially with these four guys. Hudson's expressions while focusing on his bass leads are priceless. =)

Liz, getting in some math and Bible Bee study at a church in British Columbia. 

Our new bus mechanic! Over the past year and a half, Denver has done a great job stepping up and taking over several of Carson's jobs from the road, the main ones being running sound + keeping up with bus maintenance.

Sister love! We are so blessed to get to do life together! 

A very messy but very intense study corner of the bus-the back lounge. 

We sure do love our bus driver, MC, and servant leader! Pictured here cleaning up a mess of some kind in the bus.

Focused and diligent!

Kombucha making! We finally figured out a routine to make it on the road! Yay! Our family could live on this stuff. Well, maybe not the men. But the ladies, anyways! We all love it. Allison + Liz are mistresses of ceremonies and are always coming up with delightful new flavors and concoctions!

Brother story time.

And that's just a very tiny peek into a little daily life on the road, these days!