In Focus: Bemidji Show Choir Alumni Celebrate 30th Anniversary of Program

Throughout the years, Bemidji High School’s Show Choir program has changed tremendously. And now during this year’s All School Reunion, three decades of Show Choir students are joining together on the stage once again.

“It’s so surreal because it’s like, all generations of classmates and peers that I went through the program with,” said current BHS La Voce Ballo coach and reunion organizer Emily Paine, “and then to see students and alumni that I coached come back, and so you see this total intersection.”

“It’s really fun and like, so emotional,” said BHS All Show Choir Reunion Choreographer Kevin Chase. “I was crying immediately when people walked in the room. How often do you really get to find out what people are up to and have face-to-face conversations reconnecting?”

More than 80 Show Choir alumni registered to come to the reunion, representing three different decades of student performers.

“It is so amazing,” stated Chris Fetting, the BHS Show Choir’s founding director. “We have 23 of the 30 years represented here by anywhere from one student to 10.”

“I’ve seen those classmates here that I hadn’t seen in 25 years, so it’s great just to connect and sing and perform with each other again because there’s a special bond when you’re on stage with someone and you’re sharing that moment,” said All Show Choir Reunion organizer and BHS alumnus Josh Peterson.

The reunion show will contain a mix of old hits and new ones.

“Our ballads are sort of talk[ing] about grow[ing] up, we’re at home, we leave home, and then we oftentimes return to that home in the end,” explained Fettig.

In this case, returning home means returning to the Bemidji High School stage.

“Those early years really were very formative in how the show choir kind of grew dramatically in those four years and really set the platform which launched that into what it’s become today,” added Peterson.

“We all had a piece in the building of this program,” Paine emphasized. “We’ve all got some ownership, I think. We all own a part of this show. We all, you know, help create and sustain and keep it going.”

And this weekend, sustaining the program is coming in the form of a reunion show.

“I hope the community comes out because this really is a success story of our whole community, our school, like I said, parents and students,” Fettig added.

The All Show Choir Reunion performance will take place Saturday, July 26th at 1 p.m. in the Bemidji High School auditorium. Free will donations are being accepted.