The first Sevier County Schools Music Festival was held March 15th at Sevierville First Baptist Church. Students from eight area schools came to sing for parents, teachers and anyone else fortunate enough to be within hearing range.
The Music Festival was the dream of Eleanor Hayes Supervisor of Middle Grades Education for Sevier County. Participating schools included Sevierville Middle School Theater Workshop, Catons Chapel Elementary School Choir, Pigeon Forge Middle School Choir, New Center Elementary School Choir, Pi Beta Phi Elementary School Choir, Seymour Intermediate School Choir, Seymour Middle School Eagle Ensemble, and the Northview Middle School Choir.
The Sevier County Educational Foundation sponsored the event. The foundation, founded in 1989, has raised $400,000 in funds to improve programs in the Sevier County School system. The main sources of funding have in the past come from the sale of coupon books and the John and Ina Berkshire Foundation. The Berkshires were a couple that believed strongly in education. This year the foundation is seeking help from corporations and private donations. All of the money donated to the foundation goes to help various projects including the County Science Fair, County Spelling Bee, Young Author’s Conference and Junior Authors Conference, Special Olympics, the Environmental Education Program at the Huskey Center, and scholarships to area high school seniors. According to Hayes, this year the foundation will be presenting 20 scholarships: six to Sevier County High School, four to Seymour High School, four to Gatlinburg Pittman High School, four to Pigeon Forge High School and two to White’s Adult High School. Each scholarship is in the amount of $1,500. “We are looking for average students who are in need to help with their finances and need some incentive to continue on to college,” stated Commissioner Bill Oakes who is on the Educational Foundation Board of Directors.
The festival was a joint effort by the Foundation and the Sevier County school system to spotlight and encourage the fine arts. It brought together over 300 Sevier County students. Each school choir sang separately and then the finale, directed by Scott Andrews, Worship Pastor for Sevierville First Baptist Church, brought all the schools together to sing “Just a Single Voice” and “What a Wonderful World.”
Miss King from Seymour Intermediate School stated, “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for the kids to hear other groups and to sing in such a mass group is very special.”

… read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.