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Originally airing Thursday, May 23, 2019

WRFA’s Jason Sample talks with JHS Marching Band Director Megan Murray, JHS A Cappella Choir Director Norm Lydell, and Jamestown Development Director Vince DeJoy to learn more about the July 19 fundraiser at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts, featuring the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra performing the music of Queen.

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JHS A Cappella Choir Director Norm Lydell, City of Jamestown Director of Development Vince DeJoy, JHS students: Caleb Kindberg, Dylan Lydell, Courtney Grey, City of Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi and JHS Marching Band Director Meghan Murray (photo courtesy of Jamestown Public Schools)

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown School Board Tuesday gave its approval to a trip to Florida by the Jamestown High School Marching Band in December 2019 to perform at Disney World.

According to Jamestown High School Marching Band music instructor Norm Lydell, the performance just after Christmas will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students in the band.

“This is something that’s been kind of brewing for a number of years, kind of a dream of mine to perform what’s called the ‘Candlelight Processional’ at Epcot Center,” Lydell told WRFA following the school board vote. “It’s a very special performance at the holiday time of  year and trying to coordinate a trip at Christmas time is very difficult from a fundraising and trip payment standpoint, but we took a shoot and submitted a video application and it was accepted, so we’re very excited to be going.”

To help offset the cost of the trip, it was also announced the Marching Band will hold a special fundraiser on Friday, July 19 at the Reg Lenna Center For The Arts featuring the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) performing The Music of Queen: A Rock Symphony.

Jamestown High School Marching Band director Megan Murray said bringing BPO to Jamestown will be a special event not just for the marching band, but the entire community.

“It’s nothing like we’ve ever done before so it’s a really neat, different type of fundraiser where the nice part is the kids don’t have to do the fundraising and the parents don’t have to pay anything out of pocket – unless they want to go to the concert of course,” Murray said. “It kind of helps us in that way but it also is a great community event so it brings those two worlds together, our music department and the Jamestown Community, for a nice summer night out.”

The cost of bringing the prestigious BPO to Jamestown will be provided in part with the assistance of a $50,000 grant from the Jamestown Local Development Corporation’s (JLDC) Downtown Programming Fund program, which was established with $600,000 from the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant the city received from the state in 2016.

“This is the first show that will actually be presented using this fund,” explained City Development Director and JLDC executive director Vince DeJoy. “The grant is made available to secure the talent for what’s going to be a fantastic show. Tickets go on sale this week and we’re just very excited about this.”

Initial details of the concert were discussed by the JLDC board at the start of February when it approved the grant for the program, although the specific details that it would be a BPO show couldn’t be made public until after the school board gave its permission for the trip to Disney World.

In addition to funding by the JLDC, the newly opened DoubleTree by Hilton Jamestown has also signed on as the corporate sponsor.
Murray said if the show is sold out, the event should be able to raise an estimated $10,000 for the Marching Band and its trip to Disney World.

Tickets for the show start at $35 apiece and will go on sale at the Reg box office this morning. They can be purchased by stopping by the box office between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., by calling (716) 484-7070, or by visiting RegLenna.com.