Cda High Choir Takes Show On Road Long Bus Ride All Part Of The Fun For Singers Invited To Competition At Tabernacle In Salt Lake

Their voices still hoarse from cheering their boys’ team to a state basketball championship, 46 members of the Coeur d’Alene High School choir boarded a bus Wednesday afternoon to sing in one of the country’s grandest venues - the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.

The invitation-only concert Saturday includes top high school choirs from Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Montana.

Even with a 14-hour bus ride ahead of them, Coeur d’Alene choir director JoElla James said her troops are ready for the prestigious event.

“We’re thrilled,” James said. “We’re excited as we can be.”

Choir members, clutching stuffed animals and cameras as they stood in a mountain of luggage, have practiced every school day since January. They’ll sing several pieces, including one in Latin and one in Italian.

“I always thought that the Tabernacle was the neatest place in the world,” said 17-year-old alto Kirsten Evensen. “The sound just goes throughout the whole building.”

Students sold candy, entertainment coupon books, bath products and ice cream to raise the $275 each for the trip, James said. But the fund-raising isn’t over.

“We still need money,” she said. “We had to agree that no student was left out because of money.”

Despite all the practice before the concert, some members will go over their songs for up to 18 hours more before the big event.

As James pulled up into the school parking lot a few minutes after her students started arriving to load the bus she shouted, “They’re on time.”

“You think after all that we’d miss the bus?” one of them replied.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo