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The Glee Club wants you to eat and drink so they can travel the world. To raise money for their January 1997 concert tour of Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, the MHC Glee Club will transform Chapin Auditorium into a Munich-style beer garden. The October 19 Oktoberfest concert-party will be held from 8 to 11 pm, and costs $2, not including food and drink.
The Glee Club has been saving money for its first European tour in twelve years, and funds from the Oktoberfest will help students pay less from their own pockets for the trip. Director Catharine Melhorn got the idea for an MHC Oktoberfest last summer when she stayed with MHC alumna Dorothy Kreiner '57 near the Munich Oktoberfest fairgrounds (they were already erecting the tents in August!). Other Munich alumnae contributed ideas and door prizes, including a genuine Oktoberfest beer mug and a huge decorated heart-shaped ginger cookie. Melhorn also returned with sixty meters of Bavarian blue-and-white-diamond-patterned crepe paper for decorating.
They're planning quite a night, with special lighting, costumed waitresses, and traditional fare including sausages and soft pretzels--as well as alcoholic and nonalcoholic imported beer and soft drinks--to be consumed at mix-and-mingle long tables. An Amherst oompah band and other entertainers will encourage the crowd to dance and sing. All MHC community members and their families are welcome.
Although not performing at the Oktoberfest, the Glee Club is practicing for its January trip, which includes concerts in Berlin, Dresden, Prague, and Munich. They will also sing at the concentration camp memorial at Dachau. The Glee Club went on international tours relatively often from the 1960s through the early 1980s, but the increasing need for students to earn money for their education has made fundraising a long-term activity.