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QCED (Quartet Champions of Evergreen District) first
met in 1972 at the
Islander Resort on Lopez Is. Wa. (Note: The Evergreen
District of SPEBSQSA,
The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of
Barbershop Quartet
Singing in America Inc., consists of Washington, Oregon,
Idaho, Montana,
British Columbia, Alberta and Alaska). Each year the
District holds a
competition among the best quartets in Evergreen. Quartets
who have won the
District Championship are not allowed to compete for
the championship again
although they may form new quartets with not more than
two of the same
members. Several guys who were members of quartets who
had won the
championship in previous years had been talking about
getting a group
together with the purpose of "Upgrading the calibre
of performance if
Evergreen District Quartets". Their objectives
were to:
1) Provide fellowship with others who have won the District
Championship,
2) Promote and encourage quartet singing within the
district,
3) Support and promote efforts to advance the level
of singing, coaching,
and judging skills within the district, and
4) Give financial assistance to quartets representing
the District in
International Competition.
For over ten years the group slowly grew but it became
apparent that the
Lopez Island location was too remote for many champs
to attend and the
audience size at the shows was necessarily small. In
1985 through the
untiring efforts of the late Bob Swanson, the annual
QCED meeting and
show(s) was moved to Seaside Oregon as a joint venture
with the Seaside
Chamber of Commerce. With the great oceanside atmosphere,
Seaside Aquarium,
shops and restaurants the new location was an instant
success with QCEDers,
their families and fans alike. In its 30+ years of existence
QCED has given
tens of thousands of dollars to the promotion and betterment
of our unique
style of four-part harmony.
Currently the annual Seaside event is held the weekend
of the third Saturday of every January at the Seaside,
Or. Convention Center. Festivities begin Friday night
with a dinner show featuring past and present Evergreen
District Champion Quartets. As the
sold-out dinner show begins, other QCEDers and their
families begin to
gather simultaneously for an evening of reunion and
fellowship. This year's
informal gathering will be at the Seaside Elks Club
on "A" Street in Seaside
next to the Comfort Inn. Saturday morning begins with
the QCED annual
meeting, continental breakfast and induction of the
new Champs into QCED at
the church immediately north of the convention center
followed by the QCED
Chorus rehearsal back at the Convention Center. The
climax of the weekend
is the Cabaret Show in the main hall of the Seaside
Convention Center
featuring past champion quartets, the new Evergreen
Champion Quartet and the fabulous All-Champion
QCED Chorus. If that doesn't
satiate your hunger for overtones, an afterglow follows
at Dooger's
Restaurant with much tag singing and entertainment by
the quartets.
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