By Kelly Johnson
Staff writer

The Betty Rydell and Friends Christmas Show is set to kick-off the holiday season Sunday afternoon.

An annual holiday tradition for many, the show features Anoka resident and longtime entertainer Betty Rydell and a host of other local talent ringing in the season with old and new classics.

“It’s a variety Christmas show for the whole family,” Rydell said.

The Betty Rydell and Friends Christmas Show is patterned after similar shows in Branson, Mo., and features music, comedy and audience participation.

It features Christians and secular holiday songs as well as other types of songs.

Joining Rydell on stage are her granddaughter Randi Rae Friedle, an Anoka High School 10th-grader.

Friedle sings, yodels and plays guitar. She has performed with Rydell for years and has also appeared at the Mel Tillis Theatre in Branson, Mo., and at the Minnesota State Fair.

She will do a tribute to Taylor Swift as part of the Nov. 29 show.

Also performing will be Patrick Villella, an 18-year-old Blaine High School student who has performed previously in the Betty Rydell and Friends Christmas Show.

Villella has opened in Las Vegas, Nev., for comic Louie Anderson. He sings a variety of songs from Elvis to Dean Martin.

A Kenny Rogers and Elvis tribute are both planned for the Nov. 29 show. Rydell will also perform a tribute to Patsy Cline.

Anoka High School student Maureen Mayieka will take to the stage in her first performance with Rydell and friends.

Rydell describes Mayieka as having “a beautiful voice” and likely to become a future star.

Retired Anoka County District Court Judge Edward Bearse, Rydell’s husband, will also sing in the show.

A band including Frank Wagamon on keyboard and vocals, Greg Dopp on guitar and vocals, Kenny Wilson on steel guitar and banjo and Larry Peterson on drums and vocals rounds out the crew performing for the Christmas show.

Rydell conceived the idea for the show some 15 years ago, staging it in a small, local church.

“I kept doing it and renting bigger places,” she said about the show’s growth.

Rydell describes the show as a unique experience for families and groups.

“It’s just a fun, lively show that’s hopefully appealing to all,” she said.

It’s also a way to give young singers and musicians an opportunity to perform live without the stress of competition.

“This gives them a chance,” she said.

Besides adding new talent, Rydell tries to keep the Christmas show fresh by adding new songs.

She said in the beginning it was a struggle to find new holiday tunes, but “now there’s so many that I like that I can’t do them all.”

Rydell knew from the age of five, growing up on a farm in Alexandria, that she wanted to sing. She spent much of her childhood listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio and putting on show atop snowbanks.

As a teen, Rydell began entertaining and performing, singing mostly country music, which she describes as her “roots.”

Over the course of her career, Rydell has performed with Barbara Mandrell, Charlie Pride, Conway Twitty, Ernest Tubb, Tex Ritter, Carl Perkins, Marvin Rainwater, LeRoy Van Dyke and countless others.

She was been named entertainer of the year by the Country Entertainers Association of the Upper Midwest and was inducted into the Minnesota Rock and Country Hall of Fame at the Medina Ballroom in 2006.

Besides the Christmas show, Rydell entertains at area nursing homes and senior centers.

She will perform her solo Christmas show in early December at the Sandhill Center for the Arts in Bethel and at the Coon Rapids Senior Center on Dec. 13.

The Betty Rydell and Friends Christmas Show is Sunday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. at the Medina Entertainment Center, 500 Highway 55 in Hamel.

Tickets are $18 for adults in advance or $20 at the door. Children 12 and under are admitted free of charge.

Groups of 10 or more can receive tickets for $15 each.

Tickets are available by calling the Medina at 763-478-6661.

For more information about Rydell, her music and her performance schedule, visit www.myspace.com/bettyrydell.