PRAIRIE GROVE -- A special guest will attend Luke Bryan's concert next week through a partnership with tour sponsor Bayer Corporation and Ogden Ranch of Prairie Grove.
Elizabeth Forester, 13, of Fayetteville, has cerebral palsy and her family has found that the teenager loves Luke Bryan's music and responds to it.
Nathan Ogden, owner of Ogden Ranch, said when he heard Elizabeth's story he reached out to invite her to the concert. At the same time, a representative with Bayer had reached out to her mother.
Ogden said Bayer contacted him and asked if the ranch would be willing to partner with the company in bringing Elizabeth to the concert.
"Absolutely, I'll do whatever I can to get that girl down here," Ogden said he told Bayer. "It's a pretty cool story."
Elizabeth's mother, Pam Forester, writes a blog called "Life With Elizabeth, the life of a little girl with cerebral palsy."
One of her blogs was an open letter to Luke Bryan and Bayer. She shared that music has always played a major role in Elizabeth's life. The first time Elizabeth heard Luke Bryan's music was during a summer concert series on TV.
As Elizabeth was watching TV, her mom noticed movement in her fingers she had not seen before and Elizabeth began to move her lips as if she was singing along.
Soon, the mother blogged, every album that Bryan had made was blaring on iPhones and iPads throughout the house. Her therapists were using Bryan's music and her classroom had dance parties with his music.
When Bryan announced the schedule for his 2016 Farm Tour, Forester began receiving multiple texts, phone calls and messages that he was coming to Northwest Arkansas.
Forester wrote that she is not one to ask for help but when she learned about Bryan's concert in Prairie Grove, she set out on a "mission to find a way to get this little girl in front of the man that helped her find her sound."
She wrote the open letter to Bryan and Bayer.
One thing led to another and a later blog by her said, "In case you have not heard, Elizabeth is meeting Luke!"
Ogden said he is looking forward to the concert. But more than that, he said, he is looking forward to spending the day with a special girl from Fayetteville.
General News on 10/05/2016