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Pennsylvania Folk Songs, Free, at McConnellsburg Fire Hall, April 19
 
Folkemer Band will perform folk songs collected in Pennsylvania at the McConnellsburg Fire Hall, Saturday April 19, 7:30 p.m. The Fulton County Historical Society and Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts invite everyone to this free concert, full of fun for adults, children and families.  Audience members of all ages will be invited to sing along, play singing games, and contribute their own riddles and anecdotes. Themes will include the farm, the forest, family relationships, courtship and marriage, and "crime doesn't pay!" The Historical Society is happy to present this evening of living tradition passed down by everyday people from our rural countryside and small towns.
 
Prior to the April 19 event, members of the Folkemer Family Band will visit McConnellsburg elementary and middle schools to teach songs and games to the students, and to engage them in their Pennsylvania musical heritage.  Students who attend the April 19 program will perform several songs with the band.   
 
The Folkemer Family Band, parents and their three young adult children, are multi-instrumentalists as well as singers and active tradition bearers.  They bring together rich vocal harmonies and accompanied by concertina, penny whistle, low whistle, guitar, bodhran, dulcimer, keyboard and acoustic bass.  They have performed PA folk songs for the Governor’s Arts Awards celebration and will be featured at the Gettysburg International Arts Festival in June. They teach on the staff of the Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering, Huntingdon, PA. The family also performs together as members and guests of other folk music and choral groups, including Cormorant’s Fancy, Folk and Friends, and the Schola Cantorum of Gettysburg.  

Dr. Stephen Folkemer has served as music director at Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary since 1979.  Beth Folkemer is extensively researching material in the Samuel Bayard folk song collection at Penn State University.  Joel, who majored in human communication at Shippensburg University, is a graduate student. Margaret is studying vocal performance at McGill University in Montreal.  Nathan, a senior at Gettysburg High School, is known in the community for his musical theater roles.
 
No reservations are needed for the 7:30 p.m. music program. Bring all ages to this community and regional event, featuring traditional folk music and American history, and demonstrating how elder generations enrich younger generations. This project is funded through the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts.  For more information, contact Monica Seville, (717) 485-4454, or Glenn Cordell, (717) 485-3172 or director@fultonhistory.org.