Sweet Adelines are in town this weekend

photo Sweet Adelines

IF YOU GOWhat: Sweet Adelines Region 23 competitionWhen: Today through Saturday, April 4-6Where: Chattanooga Convention Center, 1 Carter Plaza, and Chattanooga Marriot, 2 Carter PlazaWebsite: www.sceniccitychorus.comSCHEDULENote: Thursday's Rising Star competition and Friday's Mass Sing Out are free. All-inclusive tickets are $20 for Friday's quartet competition and Saturday's chorus competition and Show of Champions.Today, April 4• Rising Star competition, 7 p.m., MarriottFriday, April 5• Mass Sing Out, noon, Marriott (free)• Quartet competition, 4 p.m., Convention CenterSaturday, April 6• Chorus competition, 12:30 p.m., Convention Center• Show of Champions, 7:30 p.m., Convention Center

Several hundred Sweet Adelines are gathering in town this weekend for their Region 23 competition and convention.

Adelines are female singers dedicated to the preservation of barbershop harmony. Scenic City Chorus, the Chattanooga affiliate of Sweet Adelines, is hosting the Region 23 meeting. Singers from 11 choruses in five states will compete for top honors.

According to Scenic City chorus member Kathy Yonka, Sweet Adelines International made a decision a year ago to redefine regions to blend some of the smaller regions into larger ones. Region 23, which covers Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle, is being combined with Region 4, adding Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, she says.

"To be centrally located, we will probably be having our competition in Kentucky," she says, which means this may be the final opportunity for local concertgoers to hear these fine singers perform.

The fun gets under way today, April 4, at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Hotel, 2 Carter Plaza, when five groups of singers will compete in the Rising Star competition.

For the fourth year, all the conventiongoers will gather at noon in the lobby of the Marriott for their annual Mass Sing Out on Friday, April 5. It's a free opportunity to hear these women singing in four-part harmony.

Later Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., 13 quartets will compete in the adjacent Chattanooga Convention Center, 1 Carter Plaza. Tickets for this and both Saturday shows are $20 at the door.

Choruses will start their competition at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Convention Center, followed by the Show of Champions at 7:30 p.m. in the Convention Center.

The Show of Champions features the top three quartets and the top winning choruses, says Yonka.

Tune Town will sing while scores are being tabulated following the choruses' afternoon performances. Tune Town won last year's regional chorus competition and will compete at the international Adelines conference in November.

Yonka adds that, although their district may be reconfigured, the Scenic City Chorus isn't going anywhere and will continue to meet each week. The singers rehearse every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Woodmore Elementary School, 800 Woodmore Lane.

Contact staff writer Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.

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