[font=Comic Sans Ms]Hey, this is a girl from Northrop's show choir. Thanx 4 the compliments, but DeKalb did win again. Congrats 2 y'all 4 a great show. Yeah, this is my first year of high school, and high school show choir. So, can't wait 2 see y'all in competition season. Bye!
Lightning Misses, But Dekalb Connect For 9th Straight Fair Choral Crown
The 2005 Bluffton Street Fair Choral Contest, a fall classic for more than a generation, dodged a bullet Thursday night.
Streaks of lightning flashed across the skies with the event a little more than half over.
Announced by event chairman Rick Elwell was that a storm was approaching from the west. He called for helpers to be ready for the evacuation of sound equipment and clearing of the site, while also urging a speed up to finish the event as soon as possible.
Some raindrops were felt, then a few more.
But it didn't happen.
What DID happen was that DeKalb's High School's Classic Connection, unlike the weather, lived up to all the forecasts and stormed to its ninth straight Bluffton Street Fair choral championship.
Directed by Shelley Johnson, the always fabulous Classic Connection sang and danced Check It Out, Use What You Got and People Who Need People, followed by People Magazine on the way back to the throne room DeKalb knows so well here...
Second place and prize again this year went to the Fort Wayne Northrop High School Charisma,
Directed by Barry Aston, Northrop did Luck Be A Lady, Embraceable You, Anything Goes and more in its again delightful and classy program of outstanding vocal music.
The third place trophy and prize went to the DeKalb Sound Sensation, a large all-girl choral group, also Johnson-directed, in addition to the Classic Connection at that very musical school.
Let's Move, Mama I'm a Big Girl Now and Because I Knew You were among the third place winning musical menu features.
Also drawing cheers from the sizable crowd in and around the main stage are at the fair was Blackford High School's Expression, directed by Lori Baxter and doing Higher and Higher, How Sweet It Is, Good Night Sweetheart and It Don't Mean A thing If You Don't Have That Swing.
Southern Wells and Bluffton performed in host exhibition with lots of enthusiastic fans on the home scene.
The Southern Wells Singers, directed by Sue Coolman, opened the show in sparkling style and did It's Not Just Make Believe, Anywhere I Am, You'll Be There and Dance, Dance Dance.
And the Bluffton High School Musical Entourage, directed by Amy Chaplin, closed the show with no revealed panic despite the storm threat with outstanding steps and sounds to Fame, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Raise Me Up to All That I Can Be and a Paraphrase of Chopsticks on their highlight list.
Real features in the four competing programs and the two in exhibition Thursday night were crowd-pleasing quality solo parts, showcasing extra talents.
While the Choral Contest participants have become used to using the same risers to cut down the time for the event from the late, late show period of a few years ago, the big thing now is dressing rooms. The choral units had screens to enable changing of costumes right next to the stage.
Chairman Elwell cited regret that a couple of schools had to cancel out this year, reducing the competing field to only four choirs with two of them from one school. He said action is under way to bring the number back up to normal again next year.
Judges were Abby Ehinger, Kim Durr and John Wenning, all noted in area music fields.
Emshwiller & Emshwiller again, with Joe and Ned on hand, again took care of the tabulating.
Preceding the program, Pizzazz! Performing Arts School followed up Wednesday night's super fair program on the stage by entertaining the Thursday night choral event crowd as the sound system was being adjusted by Elwell and associates.
Announced in advance was that the choral contest had no rain site. It would be called off (as happened a few years ago) if actually prevented or halted by storm.
But a bullet was dodged and the weather actually cleared for the night period amid the Classic Connection's annual musical and dance excellence storm.
Was it dekalb or northrop cuz northrop sure brought it last night!!! So did dekalb (like always LOL) i loved both of yalls shows they were hot! I cant wait till contest Yay!!!!
Bluffton Street Fair 2005
