After hundreds of performances in which they brought countless smiles, cheers and even tears to their audiences, the group will sing its final song this Sunday at their Spring Concert at the 7th Street United Methodist Church. The concert will begin at 2 p.m.

“It’s just time, we were once 50 members, now we’re less than two dozen, we’re continuously losing our accompanists to the point we’re begging all of the new music teachers,” said longtime director and heartbeat of the choir, Patty Lacy.

“I’ll say this, I certainly cannot ask more of those still with us, some can no longer stand, some we’re not sure if they can make it physically until the day of a concert, but they love to sing and sing together,” continued Lacy.

Lacy explained that original director, Dick Heck, and choir member, Jim Knauff, had the idea for a choir when Renovo was about to celebrate its Sesquicentennial, 125th anniversary, in 1991. Gloria Edmunds was quickly on as the first accompanist and things started to fall into place.

KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Members of the Renovo Community Choir are pictured during its previous Christmas concerts. The choir will hold its final performance this Sunday, May 3, at the 7th Street United Methodist Church.

Wayne Short, who was Renovo’s mayor at the time, gave the choir a boost by asking all the local church choirs to join in. Soon, the group was a boisterous 50-plus members, captivating crowds from its inception.

Over the decades, the choir has mirrored the Renovo community at large. Thirty-five years ago, everyone still knew all their neighbors, generations stayed in the community and many in the choir were schoolteachers, worked in local businesses or were prominent in their churches.

Particularly over the last decade, sadly, as time passed on so has many of its original members.

Nearly every recent concert, whether on the first Sunday of May or December, the performers were tasked with two realities: Singing, of course, but often with heavy hearts as they recently had lost a fellow choir member and this was the first concert without them.

“Yes, we definitely had many of those scenarios, and we’re a family, so we’ve certainly shared many tears,” said Lacy. “I was just looking at pictures from our concert in 2024; we’ve lost too many members even since then.”

KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Renovo Community Choir Director Patty Lacy speaks during a previous Christmas performance at 7th Street United Methodist Church.

The choir’s legacy is far from a melancholy one, however.

Just like their shows, a sad song was often followed by foot-stomping sing-alongs, sometimes even featuring an unexpected guest. Those are the memories Lacy hopes the members take with them.

“I’m in front, with my back facing the audience, they can see me waving my arms around all they want, but it’s the people in front of me that are so devoted and love to sing together. I can simply be making funny faces, but their devotion is something that cannot be taken away,” the director said of the group.

Lacy said that the decades of being in the choir have led to many surreal memories as well.

“I remember when I sang a duet with Ken Woodring, he was my schoolteacher when I was in school. I can’t say that I’d ever imagined that we’d be singing a duet together, let alone in public,” she laughed.

Of its original performance 35 years ago, Patty Lacy is joined by Pat Jones, Diane Tolomay, Tom Campbell and Dick Grenell as members still making all the shows. They, along with everyone else, will be taking their final bows on Sunday.