Staff writer
Holiday decorations are springing up all over Marion County, and the sounds of Christmas will be in the air in Hillsboro on Friday as well.
Hillsboro resident David Vogel, who runs Vogel Design and owns Instaboro, will perform “A Down Home Christmas Concert” at 7 p.m. Friday at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.
Vogel said he has wanted to do a Christmas show for the last several years, and his dream is finally becoming a reality.
“I always look forward to this time of year because I love Christmas music so much,” Vogel said. “I have so many happy memories associated with these tunes that by late September I’m usually already in the mood to listen to them.”
The concert will include cheesecake, Christmas music ranging from traditional to contemporary, and will incorporate projected media into the concert. Frank Sinatra might even make an “appearance,” Vogel said.
The concert also will help benefit Main Street Ministries, Hillsboro Senior Center, and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“It was my hope when I started putting this concert together that, in addition to having a lot of fun,” Vogel said, “we’d be able to make a difference in the community.”
Vogel, a board member for Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce, contacted Marie Kessler, head of the chamber promotions committee, after she mentioned wanting to have some sort of entertainment to go along with A Down Home Christmas.
Kessler agreed, and helped Vogel come up with the idea. Vogel did a lot of the planning and organizing for the concert, including reserving the venue and creating promotional material, while the chamber helped take tickets and promote.
After planning started, Vogel felt that an hour and a half of just him “would get boring,” which is why he recruited three other Hillsboro locals to perform with him.
“The main reason (I asked them to join) is that this town has a lot of really talented people,” Vogel said, “and I wanted to showcase that.”
Vance Klassen, a junior at Hillsboro High School, was chosen by Vogel after Klassen “nailed” his performance as Professor Harold Hill in the high school’s fall production of “The Music Man.”
Daniele Melton was chosen by Vogel after her performance at the all-school reunion last spring. Vogel was running sound, and Melton performed songs after the dinner.
“Daniele has a really unique voice quality, so I’m really looking forward to working with her.”
The third performer to take the stage with Vogel will be his wife Hanna. Both have performed together on multiple occasions, including Tabor College’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” and on one of his CDs.
“Even before we started dating, I asked her to record “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with me,” Vogel said. “so we’ll be taking a little trip down memory lane with that duet at the concert.”
Vogel hopes the audience will have a good time, enjoy the cheesecake, and be put in the Christmas spirit.
“If the audience laughs and taps their toes during the concert, I’ll call it a success,” Vogel said. “And if the audience runs down Main St. after the concert yelling “Merry Christmas” like George Bailey in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ I’ll have done my job really well.”