Unwilling to let the music stop, one Moravia club is bringing a cappella acts to a park that is usually happening in the summer.

In past year, the Horizon Summer Performances would keep the small community entertained for weeks. However, the group that managed the concert series went defunct this year.

The Moravia Rotary Club sponsored the performances, and the members decided to try to pull together another concert. People can enjoy a concert of two barbershop style singing groups.

Rotary member Tom Collins encourages people to bring their own chairs or blankets and “be ready to be entertained.”

Members first step was contacting a woman with the Cayuga Chimes, proved to be the biggest step. The multigenerational women barbershop chorus agreed to perform and take the main lead in the show. They also brought another Ithaca-based group, Alakazam, into the mix.

“And just to spice things up, Mike Stanley, a magician, will be there,” said Collins, who was rotary president when they began organizing the event.

What began as a conversation about continuing some kind of summer concert in Moravia has blossomed into what audiences will see Saturday evening as a concert with two area-known singing groups, a magician and concessions.

Organizers aim to spark interest in concert series again and have people step up and agree to revive the performances, Collins said.

The Cayuga Chimes formed in 1977 and nearly a decade later earned the title “official voice of Ithaca” by the then mayor, Collins said.

The other a cappella group is a quartet. Alakazam formed in October 2003. Four members of the larger group wanted to try their hand at the sound of a smaller group. The four-part harmony allows for more background and more evenly dispersed sound.

The four Ithaca men sing a variety of music, such as early rock 'n' roll, jazz and Doo Wop, member Jeremy Beutel said. Many of the members listen to a variety of music, and they wanted to reflect their wide tastes.

Beutel called the quartet's “claim to fame” as recording the radio jingle for the bus service Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit in a series of 30-second advertisements that aired last fall.

The men selected their '40s theme to make them unique, but also they like the music from that time period. They dress like a 1940s working man for more formal events.

“Nobody's a professional, we all have day jobs. ... Some of us can do music on the side I guess, but we can't make a living,” Beutel said chuckling.

Collins said people already are interested in the barbershop concert and are excited to have a performance in the park to attend.

“It could be a one-time shot. I don't see the rotary club putting up this kind of money every year. I see this as a springboard to get other people involved in the Horizon or bring other summer performances back to the community,” Collins said.

This would allow rotary to do what the dozen members prefer, to support but not manage the series.

“I call us ordinary people who do extraordinary things,” Collins said.

Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or at jessica.soule@lee.net

If you go

What: Barbershop Concert with The Cayuga Chimes and Alakazam

When: 6 p.m. preconcert festivities, 7 p.m. concert begins Saturday

Where: Ethel Fuller Park on Main Street, Moravia, behind Kinney Drugs

Rain location: The Christ United Methodist Church on Congress Street, Moravia

What to bring: A lawn chair and money for concessions