The Revere Orchestra program organized the Strings and Shops holiday concert to promote community engagement and showcase students from the elementary to the high school orchestras.
The Strings and Shops concert is a more recent tradition for Revere, but each year the event has grown in both attendance in the audience and vendors at the craft fair. Joshua Bowman, the director for all of the orchestra programs in the Revere district, credits the growth to the infectious passion of both himself and his students.
“[Our success lies in] just loving the program. I love teaching music, so having that and then just promoting it and having the kids see . . . we’re doing stuff that is fun. We’re learning as well. [The program] kind of [promotes] itself,” Bowman said.
Oftentimes, the staff throughout the district do not get the opportunity to see the students perform, so Bowman decided to put on a special show at a staff meeting with just the high school orchestra.
“The high school played two of our songs . . . for the staff meeting, so that was really neat to be able to do, because a lot of times the staff doesn’t get to always go to the concerts because they’re busy. And that’s completely understandable, but to be able to do something for them in a place where they have to be already and see the kids are doing a great job, that was really neat to do,” Bowman said.
The actual concert included students all the way from the fourth grade to seniors playing their last holiday concert with the district. Max Richardson, a senior and section leader for the violas, hopes everyone in the choir can make the most of it.
“Honestly, I just hope that everyone has fun, it’s a good experience and they really enjoy being in an orchestra and it’s not something that’s a chore,” Richardson said.
As a section leader, Richardson is responsible for making sure his section is comfortable with the music they are learning and is there to help teach if his peers are struggling. Richardson played two parts at the event: working as a coordinator and helping with the fair, as well as performing.
“So a group of us who volunteer to help stay after school and we help set up all the vendors . . . and help get the cafeteria set up and just make sure that all the vendors have everything they need and also make sure that Mr. Bowman doesn’t have to run around trying to answer everybody’s questions,” Richardson said.
The holiday concert itself is not a new tradition, but the craft fair beforehand is. The first year, Bowman recorded fourteen vendors, and now just two years later, the number has jumped to 28. Bowman noticed the most sold items seemed to be things such as baked goods or more unique gifts.
“Anything that the kids can eat right then. There’s been cookies, there’s been cake pops, cotton candy and that always tends to go pretty well. There is 3D printed stuff. It seems to go pretty well. There’s some people that make beeswax products, . . . [and] knit things seem[ed] to go pretty well this last year,” Bowman said.
One of Revere High School’s students, junior Lylah Wilson, participated in the craft fair for the past three years, selling her handmade jewelry. A dual orchestra member and saleswoman, Wilson makes time to create her pieces between homework, practicing her viola and staying active in clubs.
“A lot of the time, I don’t choose a time to sit down and work on it. It’s more like a going with the flow kind of thing. If that’s something that my brain decides I want to do in my free time, then I’ll do it. But I don’t try to make it a hustle or anything. It’s more like this is a fun, cool thing. And if I try to keep all of it, I’m gonna run out of room in my house,” Wilson said.
A table at the event costs fifty dollars, money that gets deposited into the Revere Booster Club program. According to Bowman the Strings and Shops, the concert is the orchestra’s biggest fundraiser of the year and helps pay for many different areas of the music department.
“It’s for all the different things. It goes into the budget, which covers uniforms, which covers supplies, which covers fees to play in contests. It covers a lot of marching band stuff,” Bowman said.
With a large growth of students in the lower grades, a rise in the program’s popularity in the high school is to be expected. The orchestra program will return to the stage in the spring, and everyone is encouraged to come enjoy the show.
