What To Expect At St. Cloud's Handbell Musicians Festival

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- Handbell ringers from several states are coming to St. Cloud this weekend.

Over 300 musicians will be at the River's Edge Convention Center for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 7 Festival.

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Chair-Elect Monica McGowan says they have a variety of backgrounds.

These are people who are coming from their church handbell choirs, or community groups, and also individuals.

The handbell ringers will start arriving on Thursday, with classes and rehearsals on Friday and Saturday to prepare for a closing concert on Sunday afternoon.

McGowen says handbell ringing started in this country with the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers in 1954 on the East Coast. It has spread across the country among community groups and school choirs. Wisconsin, in particular, has several school handbell choirs.

They represent people who just like to ring handbells or are no longer able to sing in their church choir, but they still want to participate in a musical setting.

They will have two concerts that are open to the public during the festival. The first is on Friday at 7:30 p.m., featuring Rochester Area Handbells. Tickets are $20 at the door.

The second is the festival's closing concert at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. That concert is free with a donation to the local food shelf.

McGowan says there will be more than 300 handbell ringers performing.

For someone who has never heard mass ringing before, there's nothing like it on the planet. It's really quite life-changing and exciting to see all these ringers playing a variety of music, from very challenging to very accessible. The music they make is just amazing.

The guest conductors include Carlos Rivera from Puerto Rico, Jill Mahr from Northfield, and Jennifer Caldwell from Maple Grove.

The musicians are coming from 10 states and one Canadian province. They meet every two years. The first time they held the festival in St. Cloud was in 2000. Other communities that have hosted the event include Fargo, Mankato, River Falls, Sioux Falls, Bemidji, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Duluth, and Rochester.

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