Looking Back on December 2022 Events on the Harmonizer Holiday Calendar
This year’s December holiday schedule, after the major show, was fun and busy.
Tuesday night Dec. 13th the chorus and their fans went on the annual Carol Crawl in Old Town Alexandria from Market Square down to the River and spots by the Torpedo Factory. Pretty much all the same guys that sang on the show made it out for this fun event.
Singers warmed up vocally in the lobby of City Hall and greeted some family members and former members who walked with singers (great to see the young kids who are now part of the Harmonizer family); and everyone welcomed David Wilt who was in town from his home in FL.
The first stop to sing was on the steps at the big lighted tree in Market Square that gathered a nice crowd of fans.
Santa hats were the uniform for this event and they helped alert folks out for the evening on King Street to realize something was “happening.” Mark Klostermeyer did a recon walk earlier to alert the restaurants and clubs that we would be stopping by to sing.
We sang just three songs from the show – “Let It Snow,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” and “J-I-N-G-L-E Bells” – at each stop and ended with the traditional “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.” Steve White brought along his set of heirloom sleigh bells. After a few stops enroute, the chorus assembled on the entry steps to the Torpedo Factory area and sang a mini show for the crowd that assembled at that busy corner.
After the last stop, director Joe Cerutti invited the Harmo family back to the Harmo House for an afterglow and to feast on the great spread he had prepared (with some help from his folks, Janet and Joe Sr.).
On Wed. Dec. 14th, a quartet of Harmonizers sang for the annual holiday luncheon of the Northern Virginia Antique Arts Association held at the Springfield Golf and Country Club. The quartet was cheerfully received, and our contact (and annual show patron) Marjie Morris, was thrilled to have a barbershop quartet on the program. Carl Kauffmann, Frank Fedarko, Michael Schwartz and Dean Rust formed up to be THE HARMONIZER FOUR for this event. They were also happy to plug the chorus show that was coming up on Dec. 17th.
The Dec. 17th holiday show at the Scottish Rite Temple in DC on 16th Street attracted an expanded audience for the chorus. The 2 pm show was basically a repeat of the show the chorus did in Alexandria on Dec. 9 with a few changes: METRO VOICES did not sing on this show, several solos were sung by different singers, and some quartets included a different set of singers. The chorus wore their green, red or blue holiday sweat shirts and white scarf for the show too. A good crew of members helped with risers and moving and set up.
BETTER TOGETHER sang again on this show and their appearance included an introduction of Tony’s father, Bill, and Tony’s son.
The hosts provided free valet parking for the show patrons. There was an afterglow at Midlands thanks to coordination by executive director Randall Eliason.
Another special holiday event for the chapter was the inclusion of our 2021 performance of “Joy to the World” as part of the WETA Songs of the Season broadcasts during December. This PBS event included several choral groups in the DC area. President Noah Van Gilder included details about the WETA show schedule in his email blast to our chapter patrons and friends.
On Dec. 27th, a number of members of the chapter will attend the annual Barbershop Blast hosted by the Dundalk MD Chapter.
The Harmonizers will reconvene their schedule and weekly meetings on Jan. 17th at Scottish Rite Temple. A major activity that night will be a complete reveal of the 2023 schedule and an outline of plans for events next year.
Until next time – editorjack!
(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 74th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. - YeEd)
