There are quite a few times in our lives that we see or attend something and our response afterwards is "that will be a hard act to follow." Well the Christmas concert that was held in Meota Dec. 4 was one of those cases. Now I have to say clearly that this is not just my opinion, and I want to make this quite clear since I had the honour of taking part in this gala event. Since then, wherever I have gone, I have had nothing but the most positive responses from those who attended.
This event was born as early as last Christmas, when the realization hit there was not going to be a concert in Meota, due to the closure of the school the previous summer. At that point it was too close to Christmas to do much to solve the situation but the seed had been set, to insure that this year there would be a concert in Meota.
At that point Charles and Anne Baillargeon took the bit between their teeth and worked towards this year's event. Of course when a person looks from the outside you only see part of the work done in the organization of an event such as this. Right from the first I know this dynamic duo called on anyone they knew who had some talent to share to get things up and running. Not only did they contact existing groups who performed but they set their mind to it and created one group from scratch. (This is where I keep you in suspense for a bit about this new group.)
The largest amount of the talent presented that evening came from right here in Meota and the surrounding community, along with some very important support from the Battlefords.
The talents of three people from the Battlefords were instrumental in more than one of the performances. Gary Gansauge, who has recently moved there, gave of his time to accompany many of the groups.
Lisa Horning who needs no introductions was heavily involved with multiple groups. Along with Charles she assisted in the formation of the Meota Men's Chorus, and they worked tirelessly to assist us in the chorus to reach our potential within a very short time. The group of men only had a couple of months of practice. As part of this group I know we owe them a great thank you for the guidance they gave us all. Lisa also gave of her wonderful talent as a solo performer.
We also have to thank Jaya Hoy who also needs little introduction for her solo performance that evening and for also accompanying the surprise act who had purposely not been added to the program. Immediately after her piano solo (which by the way was superb) she started right into playing Handel's Halleluiah chorus at which time people started to pop up in the audience signing. Now I knew about this because I was part of the presentation and had been sworn to secrecy, but the looks of surprise from the audience as the Gallery Singers came forward out of the crowd was just wonderful.
Along with the groups mentioned so far there were musical presentations from the Lakeshore Lions Chorus, Ben Byl on his harmonica who also helped accompany other groups, Melanie Gansauge, Dave Tupling, Our Lady of Fatima Choir and Evan Cadrin. Evan is five years old and was supposed to have sung with his older brother Tal who came down sick that morning.
I have to give this young lad credit for going it alone - you showed great courage, Evan, and did a great job, as did all of the other performers.
One other group of ladies, Anne Baillargeon, Susan Cadrin and Gail Meiers got together and did a couple of song and dance routines and were assisted in one by Mickala Carlson
For a finale all of the vocalists from every group performed the final two songs together.
As you can see this was one fantastic evening and, as I said earlier, it sets a benchmark that is way up there. And what performance would have been complete without a packed audience who couldn't say enough in the way of praise? This was all tied up with refreshments for all.
Donations from the audience for the evening amounted to $1,012.41, all of which went to the Salvation Army Christmas fund.
Yes, we owe all who came forward with their talents a word of thanks, and especially Charles and Anne for their leadership in getting this going.
