A long-running holiday tradition returned once more to the La Porte Civic Auditorium to ring in the sights and sounds of the holiday season for the 25th Annual Holiday at the POPS, featuring the talented musicians of the La Porte County Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Charles Steck.
Presented by the Healthcare Foundation of La Porte, this year’s concert also featured 2019 Hoosier STAR winning vocalist Joseph Stewart, Kathleen Lang on bagpipes and vocal group Cripple Creek, with a very special presentation featuring the La Porte High School Advanced Choirs.
Over the past 25 years, the Holiday at the POPS concert has raised more than $943,000 to positively impact the health and wellness of the community. The event welcomes 1,800 attendees each year to a transformed Civic Center, aglow with twinkling lights and festive decorations.
“Each year, we make sure to focus on featuring our local talent,” said Maria Fruth, President and CEO of the Healthcare Foundation of La Porte. “We have an incredible symphony orchestra right here in La Porte County, as well as many amazingly talented local musicians. We also are very happy to highlight our local high school student choir. Each year, we try to make it bigger and better and every year, people tell us it was the very best they’ve ever seen.”
This year’s POPS concert featured holiday favorites such as Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Ave Maria, Sleigh Ride, The Little Drummer Boy, and White Christmas, along with some more formal melodies, such as the Chorale Prelude to Wachet auf, Ruft uns Die Stimme by J.S. Bach and even some tradition carols such as Carol of the Bells and Silent Night.
The La Porte High School Advanced Choirs were met with a standing ovation for their performance of Christmas on Broadway. The audience was then invited to sing along in a Holly Jolly Sing-Along featuring favorites Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
“This is such a wonderful event, and the responsibility for making this happen rests squarely on Maria’s shoulders,” said Jeffrey Bernel, Chairman of the Board for the Healthcare Foundation of La Porte. “Next year, we’ll be turning the event over to the La Porte County Symphony Orchestra, who will take full responsibility of Holiday at the POPS for years to come.”
“We’re really excited about our relationship between the Healthcare Foundation and the orchestra, and I think that they’ll do a wonderful job, taking the Holiday at the Pops into the future, and allowing the Healthcare Foundation to focus on fundraising and grant raising,” said Bernel.
Holiday at the POPS funds have been benefitting local healthcare needs for the last 25 years, and now that the HFL is in place to do that, funds raised through future Holiday at the POPS concerts will be dedicated to building a future of great music for our region, with special emphasis on youth engagement in music and the arts.
Leigh Morris, Chairman of the Board for La Porte County Symphony Orchestra, is enthusiastic about taking over the Holiday at the POPS tradition.
“We are extremely pleased to be leading this timeless tradition into the future. This is going to allow us to do some really exciting things with local youth, to help them have access to live music, to participate in music, and to help them develop a love of live orchestral music which, we hope, will last them a lifetime,” Morris said.
This year’s concert was dedicated to the memory of Betty Trickler, a La Porte County resident who served as Vice President of Nursing for La Porte Hospital, as well as Chairperson of VNA Hospice and Home Care. Trickler was instrumental in creating the Holiday at the POPS tradition, along with POPS co-chairs Mary Ellen McCain and Marti Swanson.
Esther Stiles, DCS Coordinator and Wrap-Around Supervisor for the Swanson Center in Michigan City, attended the concert with her friends, Chet, Sherri, and Taylor.
“Our friend, Jen, plays viola in the orchestra, and my son has some high school friends who are in the orchestra as well,” Stiles said. “One of the things that I love most about this is that there’s such a wide age-range of people performing here tonight.”
“This is just such a wonderful tradition for everyone here in La Porte. The tickets are affordable and it’s convenient so anyone here in the county can come out and have a great time,” Stiles added.
The 2019 La Porte Holiday at the POPS was sponsored in part by the generous cooperation of corporate sponsors, including: La Porte Hospital; Horizon Bank; Newby, Lewis, Kaminski & Jones, LLP; Northern Trust Investment Company; Drayton, Biege, Sirugo & Elliott, LLP; Edward Jones Financial; Dr. & Mrs. Charles F. Hagenow; Larson-Danielson Construction; Marquiss Electric; Meridian Title Corporation; Mrs. Barbara Moore; One Advantage; Osborn Wealth Management; Wolf Family Dentistry; General Insurance Services; Northern Indiana Public Service Company; Qubit Networks; American Limb & Orthopedic Co. of Valparaiso; B & B Manufacturing; Tom & Jackie Dermody | James & Becky Pressel; Sally Fischer; Friedman & Associates P.C.; Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co.; Harris Precast; Judee’s; Dr. John & Mrs. Katrina Langford; NRP Jones; PNC Bank; Robins & Morton; Dr. Gary Wheeland & Family; Blue Chip Casino; 1st Source Bank; Centier Bank; Fenker’s Finer Furniture; John Leinweber & Jim Laughlin; Parkison & Hinton, CPAs.
For more information about Holiday at the POPS, visit them online athttps://holidaypopslaporte.org/. To learn more about the Healthcare Foundation of La Porte, check them out online at https://hflaporte.org/. To find out more about the La Porte County Symphony Orchestra, visit them at https://lcso.net/
