Culture

Community Comes Together for Christmas Benefit Concert

“A New Gloucester Christmas” was a benefit concert organized by Jim Gallant and performed at the First Congregational Church in New Gloucester on Friday evening, December 16.  Conceived as a charity benefit with New Gloucester musicians, Jim drafted the Bald Hill Band and some of their friends, and the decision was made to have the proceeds go to the Emergency Fuel Assistance Fund maintained and allocated by the First Congregational Church for New Gloucester residents.  According to Jim,
“the idea for the concert was to have the community come together to have a night of Christmas music performed by local musicians — New Gloucester has such a wealth of talented musicians.  That would give them a chance to do just Christmas music arranged the way they wanted and to perform it in a beautiful concert setting.  It was a win for us musicians to be on stage and present the music and also for the audience to take part not only to listen but to have the community join in and be part of the music with a  sing-a-long at the end.”
The concert was well-attended with many braving a very cold December night. After such a successful event, there’s hope that it will become an annual tradition. If you want to see the full concert you can find it on the video section of the “New Gloucester Christmas” facebook page.
The free-will donations received that night and in the following days have reached over $1700. New Gloucester residents who find themselves unable to buy heating fuel may contact the church’s pastor, Rev. Gard, 926-3260, to apply for help.
Many thanks to Jim and the musicians who worked to put the concert together.