The Singing Christmas Tree
A lasting tribute to the community
Funded by Velma Cullen MacDonald

In 2005, "A Holiday Concert" pairing the Anchor Bay Community Band and the New Baltimore Interfaith Choir, debuted The Singing Christmas Tree. The event was presented at the Performing Arts Center at Anchor Bay High School.

Complete with decorations and lighting, The Singing Christmas Tree was central to a stage packed with performance. The unique six-tier structure rising 20 feet in the air was purchased expressly for the Anchor Bay Community Foundation by Velma Cullen MacDonald and will be featured annually in a holiday season. To complete the theme in the one-of-a-kind performance for Southeast Michigan, the 2005 concert featured choral group members in golden collars and band members in Santa hats.

Bette Carrothers, accompanied by pianist Carolyn Natzke, directed the forty-member New Baltimore Interfaith Choir. Director David Kleckner, conducted the ninety members of the Anchor Bay Community Band. The program featured the choir and band performing two selections together including one called Holiday Favorites: Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bell Rock, Silver Bells, and Frosty the Snowman, and G.F. Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. Choral selections by the choir were Gloria, sung in Latin, by Antonio Vivaldi, Beautiful Savior arranged by Felix M. Christiansen, the spiritual Go Tell It On The Mountain, arranged by Kirby Shaw, Snow, Snow, Beautiful Snow, arranged by Harry Simeone and Silent Night in English and German. For the grand finale, a children's choir was invited from the audience for a sing-a-long.

While the annual concerts will be used as a fundraising vehicle for the Foundation, it is hoped that attendance at The Singing Christmas Tree Concert will soon become an exciting family holiday tradition. Two concerts are planned for December 2006.