Tri-State Music Festival is bringing more than 10,000 musicians to Enid today through Saturday.
Take that number and multiply it by the number of nights the participants will stay in local hotel rooms. Then add on the number of meals each person will need through Saturday, and that amounts to a pretty big number.
That’s how significant the music festival is to the city of Enid, Debbie Lambert said.
“The motels will be full and the restaurants will be full,” said Lambert, Tri-State Music Festival director.
The money brought in from the music festival, Lambert said, goes to the following year’s festival.
Though the economy has been down recently, she said the group has been able to put a little money in the bank.
“We have in the last couple of years saved some money,” Lambert said.
This year’s Tri-State Music Festival has about 26 bands in the parade, which will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday downtown. There will be an additional 36 concert and jazz bands competing during the week, as well as 12 orchestras.
In addition to the more than 60 bands expected, there will be dozens of choirs at the event. Thousands of music students also will perform in solo and also in ensemble contests.
Other activities at the music festival include a drum night featuring David Anderson Thursday at Montgomery Hall at Northern Oklahoma College Enid campus.
A ragtime Marimba Band will also play Thursday night.
Friday night is Jazz Night at NOC Enid’s Mabee Center, beginning at 7 p.m. Performers will include the University of Central Oklahoma Lab Jazz Band and the Tri-State honor show choir and jazz band.
At 3 p.m. Saturday at Chisholm Trail Expo Center is the Grand Concert, which will conclude musical festivities.
A new part of this year’s event is a car show 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday east of Conv-ention Hall.
Lambert is excited for this year’s event; she just hopes her computers don’t crash like they did last year, when she and volunteers had to scramble to reorganize the event with limited time.
“I hope it goes better this year than it did last year,” she said, laughing.
Anyone who would like to volunteer for the event can call 237-4964.