Convention a success

The 151st anniversary of the East Texas Convention has come to an end, and we hope and believe we can honestly declare it a success. Singers were plentiful (so was the food) and they were in tune.

A big thank you is in order for all who helped make another session of the East Texas Sacred Harp Convention a huge success. We had visitors from about fourteen states, plus one young man from the country of Zambia. Many commented that they believed this was the largest crowd they'd seen at our convention, perhaps even more than for our special 150th anniversary session last year. We had the privilege of being the first Convention to debut the new 2006 Cooper book. I believe the singers will approve of the new songs that have been added to the book, as well as new typesetting and corrections. The revision committee has done a good job. Thanks to Alabama Sacred Harp Book Company friends for bringing the new books to the convention.

The Owen family's CD is fairly new and was available at the convention. This is great singing that everyone will want to have. At our Saturday night social, we had a screening of Matt and Erica Hinton's "Awake My Soul: the Story of the Sacred Harp". This was enjoyed by all present. Because we had such a good turnout, we barely had enough food for all. I think everyone got something, but the selection was thin for the last folks who came in. Maybe we just weren't optimistic enough! We'll hope to do better next year if you'll give us another chance.

We had an entirely new slate of officers -- as the new President said, "It wasn't a hostile takeover; we just couldn't run fast enough to catch them and they got away." The new President and arranging committee acquited themselves well during their very first term in office.

Thanks to all who brought food; to all who made donations; to all the volunteers; to all who helped in any way. AND especially to all who came to sing. Without you we wouldn't have a singing. We don't want to get like the school employee who said that the school would be a nice place to work if it weren't for the kids!

No kids = no school. No singers = no singing. Thank you, singers. Come back next year.