The Kampana Handbells' annual Christmas concert Dec. 16 likely marks the group's last-ever performance.
The group's director, 77-year-old Sylvia Carscadden, is disbanding the musical ensemble she founded back in 1975.
She's doing so for a number of reasons, including the fact that she's selling her remote Kantola Road home, where practices have always taken place.
While Carscadden could find another practice space, she said the instruments the group uses all belong to her, and she's not keen on storing them elsewhere.
She said some group members also want to retire from the ensemble, and she doesn't want to start from scratch with new members. With the retirements, Carscadden said she's worried about the group dwindling away “in some kind of sick fashion.”
“If we're going to go out, we'll go out with a bang,” she said.
That being said, Carscadden said the group might find a way to reorganize itself in the future.
Carscadden has put together a slideshow featuring photos of Kampana over the past four decades which she'll be showing at the Christmas concert.
The concert will be an emotional time for everyone involved in Kampana, she said.
“But that's part of life, right?”
Tickets to Kampana's Christmas concert cost $10 each, and can be purchased at the door, or in advance at Black Cat on Durham Street. Children under 12 are free.
For more information about the concert or the group, phone Carscadden at 705-692-5086 or visit kampanabells.com.
@heidi_ulrichsen
