In four part harmony

The Lake Plains Chorus will soon be performing on its old stomping grounds. The four-part-harmony vocal group will bring its barbershop-style sound to Fostoria's Wainwright Amphitheater in Foundation Park at 7:30 p.m., on July 23, as part of the Fostoria Community Arts Council's Summer Concert Series. Two weeks after Findlay's Night Jazz takes the amphitheater stage, the Lake Plains Chorus will display its talent in a free, public concert made possible through grants from the Fostoria United Way and the Geary Family Foundation. Though the chorus has maintained its Fostoria roots for all of its 60 years with its rehearsals at Wesley United Methodist Church and it performed in a special event at Fostoria Junior/Senior High School in April, it's been four years since it sang in concert at the Wainwright Amphitheater. "We think of this as coming home," said Tenesha Ulrich, the chorus' marketing representative. "The upcoming park performance, combined with our successful show and youth harmony festival, are exciting events for us, occurring in our home of Fostoria in our 60th year of harmony," Though most of its members live outside of Fostoria, the city has remained as its rehearsal site due to its central location. "When we look at the map and where our members come from, Fostoria is the center," said Fred Schmidt, director emeritus of the chorus. "It may not be the closest to everybody. We've got people coming from Findlay, we've got people coming from south of Tiffin, we've got people coming from Port Clinton and Marblehead. The (most northern residents) keep saying, 'Why don't you move closer to us?' I say, 'If we do that, we're going to lose people on the south end.' So, Fostoria has been our headquarters for all these years and I think that's probably how it's going to stay for a while." Having made its way through the coronavirus pandemic, the Lake Plains Chorus is now soldiering on with 23 members. "It's down from what we've had in past years," Schmidt said. "The pandemic took several away from us. One of my members made a statement early on. He said, 'The longer they stay away, the easier it's going to be for them to stay away.' I said, 'Yeah, that's going to be the truth.' And it's been that way, whether we're talking about our chorus, whether we're talking about churches, whether we're talking about other social groups in the area -- all of their memberships have declined. "We tried to keep things going. We didn't have regular practices, but we had weekly Zoom meetings and we kept in touch with each other, and when it seemed like it was appropriate, we'd meet. Especially in the summertime, we'd meet at people's houses and just kind of have a social evening, sitting around singing casually, not rehearsing, but just keeping things together. "Finally, we were able to get it back together and we had our first show at the end of April and that turned out really well." Prior to a performance in the Wainwright Performing Arts Center at the junior/senior high school, the international champion barbershop group Quorum conducted a clinic for 14 area youngsters. The students then joined in with that night's show. Schmidt said no admission fee was charged, though freewill offerings were accepted, and the evening show drew 400 people. "We thought it was a good opportunity to get back in front of the public and work with kids, and they'd bring some parents and grandparents along," he said. "It all turned out really well. We were quite happy with the results." The chorus is now busy with its schedule of "Summer Sing-Outs." On the Wednesday prior to the Fostoria show, the chorus will perform in Findlay's Riverside Civic Concert Series. Most recently, the group sang at the Lake Erie lighthouse in Marblehead. "It was great," Schmidt said. "But it was cold. Oh, my goodness. When we left our home (north of Bowling Green), it was 83 degrees. When we got up to Marblehead, it was 65 and the wind was blowing, like 30 mph, right off the lake, and it was cold. Everybody was in shorts and light shirts, which is our summer outfit, and we were freezing. "But I was surprised. We had a large crowd. Probably 150 people were sitting around on lawn chairs and wrapped in blankets and Jackets, and here we are, up there in our shorts and shirts. But was a good evening and we had a party afterward; one of our guys lives up there and he had us over to his house. ... Once we got inward a couple of miles, it was a lot warmer." Schmidt said he hopes for another good turnout when the chorus returns to its home base on the 23rd. "We'll put on a nice program for them," he said. In the event of inclement weather, the show will move from the amphitheater to Venue 18, located at 11295, Ohio Route 18.