The Salute to Seniors will take place Tuesday, May 12, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Tickets will be available at the door, and will include entertainment, a hot lunch, casino games, door prizes and access to 41 vendors. Too Old to Stand (TOTS) will perform from 1-3 p.m.

This year the president of the Senior Coalition, Lois Zahn, booked a frequently requested band to return and headline the event – the Bottineau-based five-piece, TOTS.

In addition to TOTS’s, the Salute to Seniors will also feature the musical talents of Larry Nelson and the Do-Re-Me Children’s Choir.

Zahn has been a long-time member of the coalition and has acted as president for the last five years. She’s dedicated to serving the community and said she likes to make everything she’s a part of fun, exciting and active.

Submitted Photo Lois Zahn, president of the Senior Coalition, often brings her karaoke setup to assisted living facilities free of charge, for the betterment of local senior citizens.

She was born into a community-centered and musically-inclined family, with her mother being a talented accordion player.

“I’ve always liked music since I was a little, little girl,” Zahn said, “Mom always would laugh at me because I’d put little shows on in the back yard. I said my dream was always to be a country music singer, but I never really pushed it that far.”

Her love for music turned into a paid gig when her boss at the Eagles Club approached her in the early 1990s and asked if she’d be interested in learning how to run karaoke equipment – an activity that was rising in popularity.

After a month of learning how to rig up and run the setup, it was time for opening night – Zahn as the headliner.

“I was so nervous the first day, the place was packed,” she said. When the audience started calling her name to come onstage, she froze and a friend pushed her into the spotlight.

“I walked up – I was so nervous at first but after five minutes it was a piece of cake. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to entertain,” she said. “If you would’ve told me that today I was going to be teased as the ‘Queen of Karaoke’ I would’ve laughed. I never thought I’d be a DJ, but the Lord had other plans for me.”

Soon after she started her business Fun Time DJ alongside her brother, Leroy Smestad. It was during this era of her life when she met the lead singer of TOTS, Shane Parsons.

Parsons started his own business, D&D Karaoke in 1992, which he ran for nearly 25 years under the stage name “Dylan.” Zahn said DJs in the area were very good about supporting each other, but especially Parsons.

“I’d go out and I’d sing with them, they’d come out and sing with me and it was really friendly. It wasn’t even like we were competing – we enjoyed each other’s businesses and we’d go when we could,” Parsons said, “It was very fun.”

This year will mark Parsons’s 35th year in the radio business. Though he set his DJ hustle aside in 2016, it didn’t take long for him to stumble across a new musical venture.

In 2017, Parsons along with four other music lovers, put a music setlist together to compete at the Bottineau County Fair’s Amateur Night as the band “The Musical Stylings of Old Men.” When they came out on top the band earned the opportunity to be the opening entertainment for the band Little Texas.

Parsons said it didn’t take very long to start receiving phone calls requesting performances, but that meant expanding their repertoire and rebranding, “The name just wasn’t going to fit on a business card. So we ended up learning a lot of songs and the rest is history,” he said.

As the years passed by, Zahn’s passion for entertainment never faded. After working at Trinity Homes for 34 years, she found a way to combine her zeal for music and her daytime job to enhance senior citizen’s quality of life. By bringing in local musicians and entertainers, she found a way to get her residents out of their beds and active again.

“My love has always been for the seniors, veterans and for the disabled. Through music and meeting people like Shane, I’ve learned my trade better,” Zahn said. “I just love people and I just love life. It doesn’t matter how old you are, I always tell my seniors to be a recycled teenager and get out there and just enjoy life – it’s not over until God says it’s over, so just enjoy the day.”

Zahn and Parsons crossed paths again in 2024 when she invited TOTS to perform at the Salute to Seniors for the first time, where the band immediately became a fan favorite.

“We are so honored to have them come here and play again. The folks are so excited about it,” said Zahn.

Though Zahn just turned 74, she practices what she preaches and stays active, “I don’t think I’ll ever put my mic down. We need one another and music is always a good thing to bring people together. So that’s me in a nutshell, I’m the same as I was 40 years ago,” she said.