'Bring your bucket'

So quips Lauren Hollen, vice president of the Summit Singers. “We just have fun,” she says, “so even if you need to bring your bucket to help you carry a tune, just come.” Summit Singers rehearses every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church located at 1046 S. Curry St. in Tehachapi. The choir meets in the Friendship Hall which is across from the Sanctuary and is preparing for their spring concert which will be May 16 at 7 p.m. at the church. No tryouts are held because, “We just get together to share our love for music and to have fun,” says Lauren.

Originally called the “Volunteer Choir,” Summit Singers has been around for quite a while. In 1999, Dr. Newby came to Tehachapi and wanted to do a Messiah for Christmas so the Volunteer Choir folks decided to assemble a community choir for that purpose.

“We had a lot of people and I was the director of that to prepare the Messiah choruses,” says Beverly Tracy, who has been an integral part of the choir since then. From that, the Summit Singers was born with Adrian “Chick” Gamble as director. “It was usually so small that our normal venue was the former Episcopalian Church near Tompkins,” Beverly recalls. The “First Annual Dinner and Songfest” was Sunday, April 30, 2000 in the Veteran’s Hall. It included a spaghetti dinner and “was quite a task” says Lauren.

There have been many changes over the years and a spaghetti dinner is no longer served but the choir’s mission has remained the same: to provide a place where people who love to sing can come together to learn and perform a wide variety of music. And to have fun. So bring your bucket if you have to, but come. For more information call Lauren Hollen at (661) 428-0298.