The Fresno Favorites Festival is an event lead by the FC Choral Department that promotes the idea of singing together with choirs from different schools around the Central Valley, Feb. 27.

The festival will be held at the Peoples Church Auditorium, Feb. 27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Students are invited to participate in watching the choral department perform after 2 p.m., when the auditorium will be open to the public.

Music director Michael Ogdon has been preparing since the beginning of the semester. His hope is to also prepare for the upcoming Association of Christian International (ASCI) Trip in March by hosting this event.

“This festival isn’t about showing off our skills, it’s about working together,” Ogdon said. “In most festivals, there are judges, that work with us on how to get better, but we don’t do that at all. We would like to gather around and enjoy making music.”

Two of the songs that the choir will be singing are “All His Benefits,” and “When We Live Our Alleluias.” Choir and Ensembles have also been working together on singing the “Amen Chorus” and a part of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handels Messiah.

This festival isn’t about showing off our skills, it’s about working together. In most festivals, there are judges, that work with us on how to get better, but we don’t do that at all. We would like to gather around and enjoy making music. –Michael Ogdon

Schools from Sanger, Selma, and Homechool Choirs will be joining FC during the festival. They are all expecting to join together to sing the pieces from Handels Messiah.

Chris Kollenkark, ’16, is very nervous about the festival but also excited. He is looking forward to singing with other schools.

“I am looking forward to competing with the other schools,” Kollenkark said. “Yet, I’m very nervous because I’m performing for them at the same time.”

Ogdon is excited to host the event, bringing other schools to campus to utilize the school’s facilities.

“For my perspective, it’s basically putting ourselves in a places where we actually bring other schools to us instead of us going to them,” Ogdon said. “Having the chance to utilize the facility like we have here, at Peoples Church, makes us a better choir. And there’s always a possibility that we might end up with people looking at our school in a different way because they might think that we are good based on our facilities.”

This writer can be reached via Twitter @mattgarza2017.