Tri-State veterans traveled to Washington, D.C., yesterday for the final Honor Flight of the year. The veterans and their guardians came from Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana. The trip gave veterans age 65 and older the chance to visit memorials honoring their service at no cost. The itinerary included stops at the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War memorials, as well as the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the U.S. Air Force Memorial.
In 1958, Richard Brawner — blind, Black, and 20 years old — sang tenor in the "Brailleroaders," a quartet from the Ohio State School for the Blind. Coached by a member of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA)'s Buckeye (Columbus) chapter, they competed in and won the chapter's eighth annual High School Barber Shop Quartet Contest, earning a standing ovation, and their photo ran in The Harmonizer, SPEBSQSA's national newsletter.
The Barbershop Harmony Society is an international organization with choruses and quartets all around the world. Chapters are grouped into districts, which hold conventions in the spring and fall to provide education opportunities as well as chorus and quartet competitions. The Southern Gateway Chorus is a member of the Johnny Appleseed District, which is made up of chapters in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The Johnny Appleseed District's fall convention was held last weekend (October 16-18) in Wooster, Ohio, and the event included a quartet semifinals competition on Friday evening, chorus competition on Saturday morning, and quartet finals on Saturday afternoon.
On Thursday September 24, Southern Gateway hosted a guest night and had eighteen guys show up to learn more about the chorus and make some great music with us. The evening mostly followed the routine of a typical rehearsal, starting with a warmup, singing through a few songs, and then getting into some detail work on individual songs to help each of us become better singers. A few times throughout the evening, members of the chorus led the group in learning a few "tags," which are the last few measures of a song that are relatively easy to learn and allow singers to ring some chords. After learning a couple tags as a group, eight quartets of guys took the 5-10 minutes during one of our breaks to learn a tag and sang it in front of the group.
Labor Day weekend provided another opportunity for the Southern Gateway Chorus to be a part of the Aruna Project, a non-profit organization that supports victims and survivors of human trafficking through a unique blend of holistic care and sustainable employment. This is our second year performing the national anthem before the Aruna Run 5K, and we again had a strong contingent of participants in the 5K. We also had a strong presence at the expo at the Madtree Oakley Taproom the day berfore, where we had the opportunity to meet many of the race participants, have a drink or two, and sing a few songs.
Members of the Southern Gateway Chorus performed the national anthem at Day Air Ballpark to kick off the Dayton Dragons' game against the Great Lakes Loons on Wednesday August 5. While the chorus sang well, it was not enough to prevent the Dragons from losing 13-5 to the first place Loons.
The Southern Gateway Chorus traveled to Saint Louis June 30, 2026, to attend the Barbershop Harmony Society's international convention. The annual convention includes opportunities to connect with singers from around the world and learn from top notch coaches. Quartets and choruses who qualify in a district competition can also compete on the international stage. With over seven hundred choruses around the world, thirty seven crossed the stage this year, and Southern Gateway finished twentieth.
On Saturday March 21, the Southern Gateway Chorus participated in the Free Throws for Kids annual fund-raising event at Lakota West High School for the fifth year in a row, both to sing the National Anthem and to be two of the top fundraising teams for the event. With thirty members in attendance, we may not have made the most free throws, but we definitely had a lot of fun hanging out at this event and helping support patients at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and their families.
On Sunday March 8, the Southern Gateway Chorus partnered with the May Festival Chorus to present "Voices on Tap" at Rhinegeist Brewery in Over the Rhine. In one afternoon, attendees learned and sang a couple new songs together and got to know members of both ensembles better. SGC's assistant director Andrew Wittenberg taught everyone "the Wellerman" as well as the tag featured in this video, which he composed specifically for this event.
