Cascade Foothills Chorale Celebrates Season with 'A Home Town Christmas'

With 16 days left until Christmas, are you in the holiday frame of mind yet? Need a little help? Head down to the Chalet Theatre this afternoon and wear your tackiest Christmas sweater. And reindeer antlers if you have them.

You'll be in good company and enjoy good humor with the singers of the Cascade Foothills Chorale as they present 'A Home Town Christmas,' a Chalet Arts Showcase Theatre (C.A.S.T.) event.

The performers tackle everything from the whimsical ("Santa Claus is Comin' to Town") to the more solemn and pious selections ("Away in a Manger"). They even have their own arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite - 3 'Sugar Plum Fairy' sung with the words from "Deck the Halls." Plus sing along to selected pieces including "Frosty the Snowman" and "Twelve Days of Christmas."

Both Saturday's performance as well as the 2:30 p.m. performance this afternoon are dedicated to Chalet Theatre owner Ken Kerr, who passed away Friday after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in early November.

Jeff Coats, representing C.A.S.T., told the audience that because of Kerr's commitment to the Chalet all these years, he's likely someone that everyone in town has crossed paths with -- especially at the ticket window. "Ken Kerr is someone that I think everybody knows, but nobody knows."

Coats said Kerr had hoped to return to the Theatre after his stint in the hospital -- he was diagnosed with terminal cancer November 8. "He was telling me he had another piano and that he wanted to come and do a dualing piano show up here. ... Unfortunately he didn't get to do that."

Also little known, said Coats, was that Kerr was a social worker. The Theatre building has apartment units in the upstairs level and he houses several employees there. "And it's not a big thing for them to have that," he said. For C.A.S.T., which has been working to bring more varied forms of entertainment to the venue with the intent to eventually purchase the building, "he provides a service here to us. ...It wasn't like we had some sort of big financial arrangement or anything. It was something that Ken wanted to see and he just loved what we were doing. We get the door and he gets the concessions - that's an easy thing to do and it works. ... We look forward to seeing our project through more now than ever."

Chorale director Dean Suess shared that he'd only met Kerr last spring when the Chorale performed a radio show at the Theatre. "He was so excited by what we did last spring, he said, 'you come back the second weekend in December and do whatever,' and here we are. It is with great gladness that we celebrate his life and dedicate the concerts this weekend to ... the memory of a very good man."

Tickets for this afternoon's show are $10.00, available at the door. For more info, call 360-825-4259 or see the Patch calendar event.

Ed Note: Need another teaser as to why you might want to check out this afternoon's show? We have a recording of the CFC performing Winter Wonderland of Snow on our Facebook page, featuring soloist Earl Barker. Check it out!