Choirs win six major awards at prestigious festival

Ninety-nine members of the MHHS choirs have returned from Anaheim, Calif., with six winning plaques presented at the Heritage Festival.

Competing against 33 choirs from around the country, the MHHS Madrigal Choir, the Mixed Choir, the Ladies Treble Choir, the Varsity Treble Choir and the Jazz Choir all won Gold Awards.

The Men's Choir won a Silver Award.

Stephanie Bowen received the Maestro Award for her solo performance during one of the choral selections.

The choirs left Mountain Home on Wednesday evening, April 16, and arrived in California at mid-morning the next day. The three busloads of students disembarked at the home of choir director Blake Olmstead's parents for an impromptu concert in the street. The students spent the rest of the day at Balboa Beach before heading to their hotel. After settling in, the choir students swam in the pool and relaxed.

On Friday afternoon and evening, all the choirs performed at the festival, held at Fullerton College.

On Saturday morning, the choir and the 15 chaperones spent the day at Disneyland, enjoying the warm weather.

The awards ceremony was held that evening at Disneyland, where students were entertained by Merlin the Magician and a display of fireworks.

At midnight the students boarded the bus for the 17-hour trip home.

"The students were fantastic," said Olmstead. "They really performed well and had a great time.

"We are so happy that the community was so supportive of the trip through all our fundraising efforts. They should be proud of the accomplishments of these choirs and their good behavior as representatives of our community."

The choirs will be having an end-of-the-year concert on Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m. at the high school. The public is invited to the free concert.