Tenors Carl Keller and Dusty Morris rehearse with the all-male chorus.

Andrew Horne, Jim Bird, and Lloyd Appell are working back stage to get the bus rolling for the Showboat trip, taking the chorus far and wide in the United States.

By Sue Moore

For those who love the sound of male voices melding in perfect choral harmony, there is no better place to experience it than at the 64th annual Rotary Showboat, said Ken Franklin, the stage director. This year as in the past, a chorus of nearly 30 male singers will take the stage to set the Showboat on course to travel to some of the more exotic destinations they have experienced in recent years.

The Showboat departs on Friday, March 3; Saturday, March 4; at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 5 at 2 p.m. from the stage at the Vicksburg Performing Arts Center (PAC). It never fails that there are plenty of jokes on the road to somewhere. The cast and crew will invite the audience along as they are hired for a concert tour of the United States.

To make an evening of it, the Boy Scout Troop 251 will be offering a spaghetti dinner before each evening performance and a brunch on Sunday before the matinee. This will take place in the High School cafeteria from 5 – 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday. The scouts and their leaders prepare the meals, help with the seating and serving, then clean up afterwards. It is a fundraiser for the troop but they aim to make the meals tasty and as much as a person can eat, said Todd White, who is the leader in charge of this event.

Chris Garrett is in his eleventh year of directing the chorus and has rehearsed the basses, baritones, tenors and leads on some dramatic four-part harmony featuring several new songs and some of the old tried and true pieces that the audience just loves, Franklin said.

The crew expects luxury accommodations on their concert tour, but quickly discovers that is not exactly true. The luxury concert RV is actually a rickety school bus, built by legendary prop designer Lloyd Appell. He and Warren Lawrence will perform their new and old newspaper jokes, and several old and new soloists will offer their fine voices to the mix in each act.

The Rotary Club of Vicksburg has been sponsoring the Showboat as a community endeavor every year of its existence. It brings volunteers to sing, act and build sets from the various segments of the greater Vicksburg area, and not just members of the club itself. All the proceeds are given back to the community in the form of grants, underwriting activities, and sponsorships.

Mike Tichvon, the general chairman for the Showboat, promises an engaging show that will have the audience laughing out loud, with toes tapping to the music as the script takes the busload of characters to concert venues nobody would ever expect.

Tickets are available at Hill’s Pharmacy beginning February 10 and are all general admission at $10 each. They can be purchased at the box office at the high school on the day of the performances.

By Sue Moore

It’s not just another fundraiser. It’s a “fun-raiser,” said Cheryl Grabowski, public relations manager for the Vicksburg Athletic Booster’s Bounce Dance on Saturday, March 4 at Indian Run Golf Club.

This is the organization that has raised over $830,000 since 1985. It’s put enough money back into the Vicksburg High School athletic program to ensure that none of the athletes would have to “pay to play” as other area schools have had to do to support programs, Grabowski said. In 2015-16, the Boosters donated over $50,000 to the school’s athletic fund for tennis court upgrades, new gym flooring, a mural on the wall of the gym and other smaller items. They fund $5,000 in scholarships for eight individual male and female senior athletes going on to college each year.

The dance is just one of its fund raising activities but it’s definitely one with the most fun, according to Mindy Reno, who works with the Boosters. The music will be provided by DJ Joe DeBiak. Costing $15 per person, the event will include complementary hors d’oeuvres, cash bar and raffle prizes. The fun begins at 7:30 p.m. and lasts until midnight. The public is encouraged to attend; tickets are easy to obtain at home basketball games on February 10 and 27. Others of the boosters who will be selling tickets include Grabowski, 569-2700; Tracey Lovell, 808-4622; Diane Fort, 377-1039; Cindy Johnson, 491-1385; and Lorie Stock, 808-4622; or any other boosters’ reps at http://www.vhsbulldogs.org/main/boosters.

The other major fundraising contributions are generated from the boosters annual Golf Outing in late August, Bingo every Tuesday and Friday night, printed sport programs with new issues every sporting season and advertising on the stadium sign.

The high school had approximately 810 students enrolled in the 2015-16 school year. The athletic rosters totaled nearly 653 students in the same school year. That number reflects the students that play multiple sports.

The Boosters Club is a fundraising organization that focuses on assisting the Vicksburg Community Schools and its student athletes to meet financial obligations that cannot be achieved through the normal funding of the Vicksburg Athletic Department. The purpose of the club is to promote and support athletics at Vicksburg Community Schools in an atmosphere that is consistent with the educational philosophy of the school community, according to its website.

John Kern and his wife Jackie Koney as new residents of Vicksburg, have jumped right in to helping in the community. Kern will give a talk about their experience living in the Ukraine in 2014, a calamitous year for the citizenry there.

By Syd Bastos

On February 11, the Vicksburg Cultural Arts Center will host an evening of Ukrainian food and drink at the Creekside Grille at Angels Crossing Golf Course. The event will culminate with a presentation by John Kern, originally from Muskegon Heights and recently relocated to Vicksburg.

Kern lived and worked as a high school teacher in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, during the Euromaidan protests, also known as the Revolution of Dignity, which spanned from late November, 2013 to its violent conclusion, resulting in the collapse of the government of then president Viktor Yanukovych, in February, 2014. The Creekside event will feature a multimedia presentation of his experiences, including photographs taken in the months following the protests.

During the unrest, Kern, who lived a short distance from the city center, was witness to many of the protests and the government’s attempts to disperse the increasingly large crowds.

“Living so close to the City Center was harrowing,” Kern said. Located just a few blocks from the epicenter of the clashes, he witnessed the thick, black smoke of burning barricades as it billowed over downtown, and heard explosions of percussion grenades meant to disperse the crowds and monastery bells rung by orthodox monks to call protesters to the streets.

“It was all so surreal,” he continued. “While all of this happened, grandmothers served hot tea and sandwiches at the barricades and my students missed homework deadlines in order to participate in whatever ways they could. Life went on. The subways ran, bars and restaurants were full, grocery store shelves were stocked. But then the shooting started.”

Once the government started to violently crack down, tensions and confusion grew. Ultimately, John and his wife, Jackie, barricaded themselves in their apartment for three days as violence engulfed the city.

The experience prompted him to learn as much as he could about the history of the region. That is the foundation of the evening’s presentation.

“Everything has its foundation in the past,” he said. “That understanding compelled me to learn as much as I could about the region and how those events have impacted current events. Once you understand things a little better, you can start to make some sense out of both points of view. It’s all really fascinating and, given the current state of our relations within that region, very topical.”

Tickets to this unique event are $40 per person and cover the presentation and dinner. A cash bar is available and will feature specialty drinks from the region. You can purchase tickets in advance at the Arts Center and Gallery at 200 S. Main Street in Vicksburg, or on line at http://www.vicksburgdda.com/events or call (269) 501-11347.