Norwegians say that her enunciation and articulation are just the same as a native's. While on tour the Olson Sisters appeared in small town opera houses, civic halls, churches, and college auditoriums. In the summer, when warm weather made these facilities unusable, they performed in the big brown tents of the traveling Chautauqua. Eleonora and Ethel were perennial favorites with Chautauqua's rural audiences; in 1915, for instance, they were booked for the entire summer season on the circuit. An article from that same year in "Sanger-Hilsen" comments on their popularity: "Among the many troupes that visit us out here in the West, Eleonora Olson's takes a leading place. While the others cease operation after one or two seasons, these three ladies return invariably year after year, and one new city after the other is added to their tour. And this is as it should be; for they bring with them much "joie de vivre"." The article praises the musical talent of the sisters and their accompanist, and of Ethel it says: "Her Norwegian dialect stories can make even the most stiff-necked pessimist crumple with laughter." The Olson Sisters had many important friends. Among them were the painter Herbjørn Gausta, U.S. Senator Henrik Shipstead and his wife and such leading families of the church as the Preuses, the Stubs, and the Korens. Their friend, singer Annette Yde Lake, was the mother of actress Ann Sothern. After a performance on the road Eleonora and Ethel were often the overnight guests of prominent local citizens. During their peak touring years the Olson Sisters, who then lived in Chicago, had a home away from home at Mrs. Dikka Koren's boarding house in Minneapolis. Other notable Norwegian-Americans also stayed there such as J. A. O. Preus, who was a future governor of Minnesota, and Herbjørn Gausta. Agnes Preus, Mrs. Koren's niece, recalls that the boarders were a convivial group: "At the dinner table there were stories all the time. I can remember it was hard to eat a meal because we spent so much time laughing." Eleonora and Ethel came from a musical family. Their brother, Jacob Alexander Bing, sang for many years with light opera companies. Their mother, Johanna, also had a fine singing voice, and the "Minneapolis Daglig Tidende" credited her with having instilled a love of music in her children.