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Celebration Iowa stays in LeClaire Park

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By Times staff | Thursday, July 10, 2008 |

Although flooding at Davenport’s LeClaire Park has forced at least three events to move off the riverfront this summer, it will not deter Celebration Iowa from making its regular visit Sunday evening.

The concert by the singers and jazz band comprised of high school students from across the state will begin at 7 p.m. in the band shell area of the park.

Audience members will be required to stay on the hard surface area and off the grass, which was damaged by two floods this year.

Admission to the concert is free, and refreshments will be available. In case of rain, the show will go on at Lyceum Hall, formerly the Masonic Temple, 7th and Main streets, Davenport.

The concert is part of the Music on the Levee series, which will feature five more shows this summer.

Now in its 26th season, Celebration Iowa’s 2008 production will open with a Broadway revue featuring selections such as “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “Oklahoma” and “On Broadway.”

The opening set is followed by “How Does Your Garden Grow?,” a children’s musical featuring “Planting Seeds,” “Weeds Rule,” and “Garden Hoedown.” The show will conclude with “The Beatles & More,” a set that includes “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Ticket to Ride.”

The Celebration Iowa Jazz Band will perform throughout the show, playing various jazz styles. Some of its selections are “Night Train,” “Spain,” “Anything Goes,” “Strike Up the Band,” “Groovin’ Hard” and “Misty.”

Iowa high school students join the Celebration Iowa program for two months of performances in more than 30 communities around the state. It was established a quarter-century ago by two Luther College educators who were optimistic about Iowa’s youth, and the Decorah, Iowa, school remains its home base.

The program originally was called the Iowa State Fair Singers from 1983 to 1988, became the State Fair Singers and Jazz Band with 1989’s addition of the jazz band and its current name was established in 2000.

Since 1983, the program has educated more than 550 high school students from more than 200 Iowa communities and delighted more than 1 million audience members across the state while performing in about 150 communities.

Contact the city desk at (563) 383-2245 or newsroom@qctimes.com.