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Evangel University Marching Band and Concert Choir to perform during Silver Dollar City Christmas festivities

Published on Nov 20, 2012 by Jennifer Hall

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — More than 150 Evangel University students will perform at Silver Dollar City on Saturday, Dec. 1. Both the Evangel Concert Choir and the Evangel Marching Band will be featured.

This event is open to the public and requires the cost of admission into Silver Dollar City.

Silver Dollar City’s “An Old Time Christmas” has been profiled as one of the nation’s top holiday celebrations by USA Today, CNN Travel, The Travel Channel, Good Morning America and AOL Travel.

The Evangel University Concert Choir

The Evangel Concert Choir will sing in the gazebo on the square from 4:55 to 5:25 p.m., just prior to the tree-lighting ceremony.

The choir’s performance at Silver Dollar City has become an annual Christmas tradition.

“I always look forward to this time of year when we sing at Silver Dollar City, because it is such a joyful time and the people always enjoy the music,” said Meghan McDonald, a senior at Evangel and a member of the concert choir.

The choir will perform pieces including Here We Come A Caroling, Deck the Halls and French Chorale of Praise.

The Evangel University Marching Band

The Evangel Marching Band will lead the Gifts of Christmas Holiday Light Parade. The parade marches throughout the park and will begin at 7 p.m.

“We are honored to be a part of Silver Dollar City’s Christmas parade,” said Dr. Michael Kolstad, chair of the music department and director of the university marching band. “Many family and friends of the marching band and concert choir will make the trip to Branson to see the groups perform. It is a fantastic way to start the holiday season.”

The band will perform traditional Christmas pieces as they lead the Silver Dollar City floats in the parade around the park.

“I think it’s great how much our community is embracing and supporting Evangel’s new marching band,” says Sarah Ward, the band’s head drum major.

Silver Dollar City light display

Silver Dollar City has over 4 million lights for “An Old Time Christmas” (that’s 350 miles of lights), plus more than 1,000 decorated Christmas trees.

The 5-story special-effects Christmas tree on the square displays 350,000 energy-saving lights. The Christmas on Main Street show features incredible synchronization. The lights are synchronized down to one-hundredth of a second, and they can have 100 light changes every second or 6,000 light changes per minute.

Evangel University is a private, Christian university of arts, sciences and professions. With an enrollment of more than 2,000 students from all 50 states and abroad, Evangel offers more than 100 undergraduate academic programs and nine master’s programs.