Gordon Liddle conducts choir at last years carol festival. (Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW Staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Carol Festival

Melfort Rotary Club reducing Carol Festival to just one show this year

Dec 6, 2019 | 11:32 AM

Less entries this year has led to changes with the Melfort Rotary Carol Festival.

There will be just the afternoon performance rather than the tradition of an evening and afternoon show on Sunday.

Rotary President Ken Singer said he believes there are less choir groups in the area.

“We had enough responses to do maybe one a half performances so we decided to just go with the one,” Singer said. “That’s just the way it has worked out this year.”

There were a few choir groups that were unable to commit with their members simply being too busy as well. The Rotary decided to keep the afternoon show because it typically brings in a bigger crowd.

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Each year, the Rotary Club collects donations on behalf of the Salvation Army Christmas Hamper program at the festival. The hamper program serves up to 200 families in the area at Christmas time.

“We hope that we will have a bigger crowd than ever for the one show,” Singer said. “In the past, several thousand dollars has been raised for the hamper fund so we just hope we can do that again this year.”

Singer added with having only one show, it would be a good idea to show up early to get a seat.

Another difference this year is the absence of long-time Rotarian Gordon Liddle who passed away at the end of September.

“Many, many years Gordon led the community in song as we start each year and he will be very missed this year,” Singer said. “We will have him in our thoughts and we are recognizing him in our program.”

Liddle was a big part of a number of the 71 carol festivals put on by the Rotary.

The show gets underway at 2 p.m. at the Melfort United Church. With there only being one performance, Singer anticipates it will run a bit longer than the usual two hours.

“Our biggest concern is that we know that there will be people showing up at the church at 7 o’clock, thinking there is an evening performance because it has been that way for so many years,” Singer said.

There is a mixture different choirs, solos and duets, ensembles, as well as poetry readings, that are taking part in the show.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser