The
mighty Oak Chorus has it's roots in Hanford. A devoted group of men from the
Visalia area were traveling each week to
Hanford to sing
in the Kingsmen Barbershop Chorus. As time went by, these
men noted that there was a significant number of men in the Visalia area who were also interested in Barbershop
singing, but didn't want to travel each week to Hanford. In March of 1982
five singers who traveled each week to Hanford,
got together to discuss the possibility of forming a new Barbershop Chapter in
Visalia. These
five men were Bud Case, Ron Dial, Claude Feaver, Fred Hendricks and Jim Moore.
They met weekly, thereafter, to develop a list of potential Barbershoppers in
the Visalia
area. They contacted the national headquarters of
Barbershopping, The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of
Barbershop
Quartet Singing in America or S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A as it was
known.
This allowed them to begin
the process of chartering a chapter and using official S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. Music.
The first Director of the Mighty Oak Chorus was Don Campbell, the former
Director of the Kingsmen Chorus and at that time the Redwood High School Choir
Director. After nearly three months of
planning, the Mighty Oak Chorus held it's first meeting in the Redwood high
School Band Room. One
hundred and twenty men showed up at the meeting with about half of the
number being
from the Kingsmen Chorus and the Fresno Gold Note Chorus. After watching
performances
from the Kingsmen Chorus and the Fresno Gold Note Chorus, the 60 or so rookies
performed "My
Wild Irish Rose".
Ron Dial was elected as the first President
of the Mighty Oak Chorus. As meetings followed more men from the Visalia area joined the Chorus The first major concert was held
November 6, 1982 at the L.J.WilliamsTheater. On July 25, 1982,
under the sponsorship of the Fresno Gold Note Chorus, the Chapter contacted the
national headquarters to begin the
procedure to become an official chapter. In January of 1983, began the work of
officially
applying to become a chartered chapter. Sixty chorus members signed the
chartering application, a very large number for a new chorus, and on March 30,
1983, the Chapter was officially chartered.
