Ernie Haase & Signature Sound concert takes the stage Thursday

    Greater Houlton Christian Academy is hosting Gospel Music’s Ernie Haase & Signature Sound Thursday at the Millar Civic Center at 7 p.m.
    “For those who love music with variety, enthusiasm & sweet harmonies performed by a group of young men who are at the top of their profession, mark your calendars,” said Peter Holmes, one of the event’s organizers.
    According to Holmes, high-profile Gospel group do not usually book concerts in small communities such as Houlton to begin a Northeast Tour. These events are always targeted for larger, more populated cities in southern Maine, and usually no closer than Bangor at best. After having tried to bring such a group to the community in recent months, it was an unexpected contact, which actually resulted in GHCA playing host and co-sponsor.
    Holmes, along with co-organizer, Wayne Watson, have pulled out all the stops to make the public aware of this rare event.
    “We had been making attempts in recent months to contact some popular groups to see if they would come to our little town,” Watson said.  
    “Houlton is not really on the map for some of these high-profile groups so our attempts were mostly unsuccessful, added Holmes. “We were surprised when the Halifax-based promoting company, Gospel Trails contacted us to see if we could host a date for this group as part of their Northeast Tour, and, of course, we jumped at the opportunity.”
    Ernie Haase & Signature Sound has been in full-time Gospel Music Ministry since 2003, having since been Grammy Award nominated as well as Dove Award Recipients. 
    “Millar Civic Center can seat up to 2,200, and the stage, unusually large for such events, will allow seating to be arranged such that even the most distant seat will be closer than most could hope to have as compared to larger arenas where this group normally appears,” Holmes said.
    Greater Houlton Christian Academy, a fully-accredited private school, sponsors many fundraising events as a way to fund its unmet operating costs since the Academy receives no state or federal funding.  Event coordinators are quick to point out that, while the fundraising potential of this event is desireable, the very fact that the community of Houlton is up to the task of hosting such an event is reward in itself. 
    “We have made plans for other events like this as early as May, 2011, but really need to see how much community support we can receive for this event before making hard and fast plans,” Watson said. “We have some who are traveling from southern Maine and Ontario, Canada to enjoy this event. How many times have we driven for hours to southern Maine to hear the same fine music, but had to spend two days of travel to enjoy it?  Now, our community can hear the same quality of music, then return home to the comfort of their own bed that night.”
    Ernie Haase & Signature Sound appears regularly on the well-known “Gaither Homecoming” tour and videos, and is always a crowd favorite.  For tickets and more information, logon to www.ghca.com or call 207.532.0736 at the GHCA office for reserved tickets.