Volunteering for her birthday present: 10-year-old Catlettsburg girl sets up chairs at Summer Motion to get tickets

ASHLAND On Thursday night, in the second row, just to the left of the stage, Shaylynn Wright was singing along as Tracy Byrd played.

“It was what see wanted for her birthday,” Marlanie Wright, her mother, said.

While Shaylynn knew the words to Byrd’s hits — some from more than two decades before she was born — the artist she had most wanted to see at Summer Motion was Anne Wilson, who headlined Tuesday’s concert.

“That’s her favorite contemporary Christian musician,” her father, Stephen, said.

“She was really cool,” Shaylynn said. “She was my favorite.”

Last month Shaylynn saw a Facebook post from a family friend asking for volunteers to help set up for Summer Motion in exchange for VIP tickets for the event.

She talked to her parents and told them she wanted that as her birthday present. She turned 10 on June 26.

“It teaches her responsibility,” said Stephen. “I thought it was an awesome idea, and told her ‘I’ll help you.’”

On Monday night, the family came down and set up chairs before the start of the concerts.

“I didn’t mind the work,” Shaylynn, a fifthgrader at Catlettsburg Elementary, said.

“She did a lot of the work,” Marlanie said. “She likes to do things for others and loves to help.”

The family does not have a working car and have had to take the bus each night to downtown Ashland and would get a ride home from a friend.

“The last bus runs at 4:30 p.m. and you get here and have to wait for the gates to open (at 6 p.m.),” Marlanie said.

The waits, and the work, seemed like nothing for the Wrights as they sang along and took photos of Byrd and watched the fireworks on Friday night.

“It’s all been worth it,” Marlanie said.