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Show Choir hopes second-time-around dresses help finance group’s NY trip
By Lynn Hotaling
By providing an opportunity for local prom-bound students to purchase a great-looking formal at a fraction of retail prices, a group of high school singers hopes to earn tickets to the Big Apple.
The Smoky Mountain High School Show Choir is slated to sing the national anthem at a New York Yankees home game, take in a Broadway show and tour Carnegie Hall as part of an educational field study trip in April.
The group got word of their selection only last week, leaving the students with barely a month to organize fund-raisers to help with travel expenses for the 24-voice ensemble.
The goal is $10,000, or about one-half the total cost, according to SMHS music teacher and Show Choir Director Linda Haggard.
“If we can raise that amount, it will cut each student’s cost to about $300,” Haggard said.
The group’s first money-making push will be this weekend, when choir members open their prom-dress consignment boutique, the “Second-Time-Around Shop,” in the school’s chorus room. The sale’s purpose is two-fold, Haggard said.
“We want to make money for our trip, but we also want to help students find a beautiful prom dress at an affordable price,” she said. “Most of the formals we’ll have for sale have only been worn once.”
Though she and choir members had to scramble to pull the event off on such short notice, Haggard said it was important to do so because they wanted to have the sale before students had already purchased prom gowns.
Girls who are choir members are donating all the proceeds from gowns they sell to the group’s fund-raising effort, Haggard said. Other students and community members are invited to bring dresses for the students to sell, with the understanding that a portion of their earnings will be donated to the choir’s trip.
“We hope everyone who sells a dress will donate part of the money they make to our trip, but that’s not a requirement,” Haggard said. “Anyone can sell their second-hand formals through our sale whether they contribute to our trip or not.”
Choir members’ Second-Time-Around Shop will be open Friday, Saturday and Monday, March 17, 18 and 20. Store hours are 3 until 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, and 3 until 7 p.m. Monday.
Other students and community members with formal dresses to sell may bring them to the school chorus room this week. Dresses will be accepted Thursday, March 16, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Friday, March 17, from 8 a.m. until that day’s sale ends at 7 p.m. Dresses may also be brought all day Saturday during sale hours – 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Those bringing dresses to sell should safety-pin a card to the dress that includes the asking price and dress size.
“We hope every student who’s planning to attend a prom this spring will take advantage of this opportunity to get a beautiful dress for less than half price,” Haggard said. “Girls at school seem really excited about our plan, and I hope we have lots of dresses to sell.”
The students were selected for the New York trip as part of state and national music educators’ national anthem awareness program. Haggard, who determined that her Show Choir students would offer live renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the beginning of each school day, saw an application for the educational trips and applied.
When SMHS was selected to participate in the educational field study trips, Haggard had a choice of Chicago, Washington, D.C., or New York.
“I picked New York because our entry into the project was the Show Choir,” she said. “I wanted them to see a Broadway musical and Carnegie Hall.”
In addition to the Second-Time-Around Shop, Show Choir students are planning additional fund-raisers, including a variety show at Southwestern Community College (date to be announced) and a raffle.
For more information about this weekend’s prom dress consignment sale, or to make a donation to the students’ trip, call Haggard at 586-2177, ext. 285.
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