When he took my hand and invited me to the stage, I was freaking out,” says Sarah Szostak of West Windsor. “I was on my father’s shoulders and all of a sudden I was up on stage with Kenny Chesney.”
She recently attended the country & western star’s concert in Philadelphia with her parents, Bert and Copley Szostak, and family friends, Joe and Kathy Donahue with their children, J.D. and Caitlyn, of Chatham. “We wanted to do it in style so we rented a limousine from A-1,” says her father. “We were dropped off at the front entrance.” The two families were seated in the 14th row.
“During intermission the kids bought souvenir shirts and put them on,” says Bert. “My buddy Joe disappeared. He had spoken with a security guard and asked him to deliver our flowers to Chesney. When the second act began, the security guard brought some of us up front near the stage. We were three deep in the mosh pit area and I put Sarah on my shoulders so she could see. Chesney made eye contact with her, grabbed her hand, and didn’t let go. The crowd went crazy and helped me move closer to the stage.”
Sarah stayed on stage with the star while he sang. “When we were leaving Wachovia Center, people were coming up to her and treating her like a star,” says her father. “People in the audience sent me photos by e-mail when they discovered that my camera was out of film.”
Sarah’s parents, both born in New Jersey, are former Springsteen fans who made the switch when they discovered country music. “It’s cohesive for the family and involves people that Sarah can look up to,” says her mother. They first saw Chesney in 1999 when he opened a show for Garth Brooks. Copley is assistant manager at the Robert Wood Johnson Wellness Center. Bert is an international broker on Wall Street.
Sarah, born in West Windsor attended her first concert when she about five-years-old. When she was six she was invited onto the stage by Shania Twain. “I was too shy then,” she says. She has since been to many concerts include two of Twain’s and one of Chesney’s.
Sarah, 12, is in seventh grade at Grover Middle School. Sarah is active in choir and track at school and is on the WWP travel soccer team.
Next stop for the family is another Kenny Chesney concert in Atlanta. Sarah will be sporting a shirt with a photo of the two of them. “Sarah plays guitar and I can’t help but wonder how it would be if in 15 years they could play a duet,” says Bert.
