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63rd Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show’s Opening Ceremonies and Entertainment

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Opening Ceremonies Will Honor Three Local Organizations

The 63rd Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show’s opening ceremonies will be held at Catoctin High School on Friday night, September 6, at 7:00 p.m.  The evening will begin with the 43rd Annual Community Organizations Flag Ceremony, with approximately 30 local organizations participating.  This year’s program will honor the 50th anniversary of the Seton Center in Emmitsburg, and the 100th anniversary of the Edwin C. Creeger, Jr. American Legion Post #168 of Thurmont and the Francis X. Elder American Legion Post #121 of Emmitsburg. At the end of the evening, the 2019-2020 Catoctin FFA Chapter Ambassador will be announced.    

The Seton Center in Emmitsburg provides emergency assistance with rent and utilities; financial literacy education; job search and support; case management; information and referrals; access to dental health care; life skills workshops; and Getting Ahead in a Just-Getting-By World program, which teaches people self-sufficiency, finance and budgeting, and how to create a sustainable way out of poverty.

The Seton Family Store is very popular with a selection of quality items; the support of the Family Store helps the outreach programs operate. The Seton Center relies on the generosity of donors and funds from the store to continue helping our neighbors in need. Honorees from The Seton Center are Kelly Overholtzer; Sister Roberta Treppa, D. C.; Kenneth Droneburg; and Melissa Miller. 

The American Legion organization was founded in 1919 by Veterans returning from Europe after World War I, and was later chartered as an official American patriotic society that carries on the tradition to support Veterans, families, and their community. The Legion continues to volunteer in patriotic service of mutual help to our Veterans and has touched virtually every facet of American life; and, to this day, they carry on the objective to serve the community, state, and nation. 

Honorees from Emmitsburg’s Francis X. Elder American Legion Post #121 are: Thomas E. Hoke, Edward E. Lingg, Martin R. Williams, Paul J. Sutton, Sanford R. McGuire, and Kevin Cogan. 

Honorees from Thurmont’s Edwin C. Creeger, Jr. American Legion Post #168 are: Sidney A. Wolf, James L. Mackley, Alvin L. Hatcher, Rick L. Hall, Robert H. Brennan, and Edward A. Gravatt.

The Linda Elower Studio of Dance will also be honored for their 50th anniversary during its Saturday, September 7 performance at 1:00 p.m. 

The annual Community Show Baked Goods Auction will begin immediately following the program, with the Grand Champion Cake, Pie, and Bread being sold at 9:00 p.m. Bidder number registration is on the auditorium’s stage, so come on out and support the 63rd Annual Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show!

In conjunction with many other Community Show events and activities, on Saturday, September 7, the Thurmont Grange will serve a roasted turkey and country ham buffet dinner in the Catoctin High School cafeteria, from 3:00-7:00 p.m. Prices are: Adults—$14.00; children under 12—$7.00, and children under 5—$5.00. Carryout dinners are $15.00. On Sunday, September 8, at noon, the Catoctin FFA Alumni will serve a chicken bar-b-que dinner in the Catoctin High School cafeteria. Prices are: Adults—$10.00; under 12—$7.00. Carryout dinners are $11.00.

Community Show’s Entertainment Showcases Local & International Talent

Don’t miss the performance of Thurmont’s Gateway Brass Ensemble on Saturday, September 7, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Thurmont’s Gateway Brass Ensemble was formed in September 2017, under the direction of Morris Blake. The Gateway Brass Ensemble is very unique, in that it blends contemporary sounds with the traditional brass genre. The Gateway Brass Ensemble members span many generations, which makes this group’s talent shine!

Richard Troxell will perform in the auditorium on Saturday, September 7, from 8:00-9:00 p.m. Richard Troxell’s beautiful lyric tenor voice has been thrilling audiences in leading roles in opera houses and on concert stages around the world, among them are The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Los Angeles Opera, Washington Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Australia in Sydney, Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, L’Opéra Comique Paris, Opéra Monte Carlo, Théâtredu Capitôle de Toulouse, Opéra National de Montpellier, Vancouver Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla, Teatro del Lago Chile, National Theater for the Performing Arts Beijing, National Theater Taipei, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Portland Opera. His vocal artistry and powerful stage presence set him apart, and his ability to connect with audiences has made him a favorite.

Richard’s recording credits include his latest two solo CDs, So in Love with the Tom Lawton Trio, Classic Broadway with the Czech National Symphony under the baton of maestro Steven Mercurio, the role of Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly for the Sony label, the role of Beppe in I Pagliacci for the Deutsche Gramophone label under the baton of Georges Prêtre, the role of Christian in Cyrano de Bergerac for the Deutsche Gramophone label, the role of Galieo in Philip Glass” Galileo Galilea for the Orange Mt. label, and numerous recordings for the Milken Archive of Jewish Music on the Naxos Label, including Masada by Marvin David Levy with the Berlin Radio Symphony and his first sold-out solo CD Wonderful World. Richard Troxell is from Thurmont, where he started singing at the age of four, along with his parents, belting out Broadway tunes at Lions Club benefits and singing hymns in the church choir. He graduated from Catoctin High School in 1979. He received his operatic training at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He currently resides in the countryside of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, dancer/choreographer Lisa Lovelace, and their two sons, Wilder and Shane.

When not performing, he enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, motorcycling, hiking, and long-distance bicycle riding.

The Catoctin Mountain Boys will be performing in the auditorium on Sunday, September 8, from 1:00-3:00 p.m.  

Enjoy Catoctin’s local talent in the Catoctin High School auditorium during the 63rd Annual Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show! 

The Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show offers free admission and free parking. For more information, please visit www.thurmontemmitsburg communityshow.webs.com.

The Catoctin Mountain Boys (from left), Shane Swope, Bob Brown, Joe Brown, Dave Lingg, and Adam Brown, perform on September 8, 2019, at the 63rd Annual Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show.

our neighborhood veterans

By On · Add Comment · In Veterans Column

by Jim Houck, Jr.

Francis X. Elder Gets a New Head Stone

Roger Melton, president of the Board of Directors Francis X. Elder American Legion Post 121 Emmitsburg, said that while he was at the 2014 Veterans Day volley by our American Legion and VFW combined Color Guard, over the grave of Francis X. Elder, he noticed that the scrolling and letters on the headstone marking the grave were barely legible. Francis X. Elder, for those that don’t know, was the first soldier from World War I from Emmitsburg to be killed in action.

Melton was very concerned, because Francis X. Elder was a hero and the namesake of our post, so he decided that this was something that needed to be brought up and discussed by members at our regular meeting (held the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m.) to discuss what needs to be done. Meeting night, Roger brought it to the attention of the membership and everyone was in agreement that the headstone needed to be replaced. Funds were appropriated for the project and it was put out for bid. Jeff Zumbrun, the owner of  Zumbrun’s Funeral Home, won the bid.

Roger called me and asked if I would like to do a story on the replacement and what was happening to the original headstone and I said I certainly would like that. I, after all, had done a few stories on Francis X. Elder and even had one of them go national on the National Sons of AMVETS Website and National Sons of AMVETS Newsletter. I have a collection of newspaper articles given to me by Ralph Ireland from a collection his mother left when she passed away. I am very interested in anything about Francis X. Elder.  I followed the replacement from the beginning and I even took several photos of the entire replacement which will follow this article.

I met Jeff Zumbrun and his son Jim on the day they came to start the replacement project. They are both gentlemen who work very hard at what they do and are not afraid of hard work, and believe me what they do is hard work. They do not use machines to move these monuments around, just manual labor and levers, the old fashioned ways. Jeff’s son Jim, is taking classes to become an undertaker and said that he is doing this to help his dad and plans on continuing the family business.

I interviewed Jeff after all was completed and he said, “My name is Jeff Zumbrun and I have a funeral home in Eldersburg, Carroll County Maryland and I am here with my son, Jim, who is hopefully going to take up the business. We got into the monument business when we first started to plan for the funeral home because it was much easier to get started. We got this connection in Emmitsburg when we bid on the headstone replacement when Roger Melton called and said we won the bid. I initially put in the bid because my brother was killed in Vietnam and I somehow felt it would be sort of a tribute to him by doing this.”

Jeff said that next year will be their twentieth anniversary of starting the business. He said they started their business from scratch and that it wasn’t an old guy that retired or anything like that. They just decided to go into business for themselves and he said by the Grace of God and community support they have been able to continue the business for going on twenty years.

The original headstone has been placed beside the World War II Memorial in front of the Francis X. Elder American Legion Post and looks very nice with the Korean War and Vietnam War Monuments and the Cannon.

God Bless America, God Bless the American Veteran, and God Bless You.

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Pictured are Jeff Zumbrun and his son, Jim.