Monticello Summer Singers perform community concert, thank volunteers and Recreation Department

The Monticello Summer Singers presented a community concert in Monticello, performed several choral selections including "Simple Gifts," and used the event to thank volunteers and the Monticello Recreation Department, organizers said.

Organizer remarks placed the concert in the summer singers tradition that began at the Presbyterian Church and later moved to other local churches. Speaker 1, identified in the transcript as the event presenter, said the program mixed "more popular, more traditional, lighter music" with older choral pieces and called one arrangement "my favorite song." Speaker 1 also thanked volunteers by name and said the series will "probably start the first Thursday in June" next year unless organizers announce otherwise.

During the program, Speaker 3 provided a musical tribute to members of the U.S. armed forces and asked attendees to honor service members during the performance. "The debt of gratitude we as a nation owe these brave soldiers, cannot be measured," Speaker 3 said, inviting the audience to stand or wave during service songs.

Speakers named several local volunteers and supporters. Speaker 1 thanked Nora Metcalfe and Nancy Frazee for attending despite heat and for bringing peaches, and acknowledged Kim Baker, Carol Wintersteen and Bruce Wintersteen for organizing logistics such as chairs and pianos. The presenter also mentioned Cathy Brown and Julie in the history of the choir's leadership.

At the concert's close, members of the Summer Singers presented Larry and Joe with a card and a gift in recognition of their work on the panel, Speaker 2 said.

The program included multiple selections the presenter said are staples of the group's repertoire and noted this was the presenter's fifth year leading the group and that Kathy (Cathy) Brown led the group for about 10 years. No ticketing, budget, contract or permit actions were disclosed in the transcript.