By LINDA KELLETT

C-S-E News Staff

TOWN OF PALATINE — Infused with light, the historic Palatine Church was center stage for performances of show tunes and classical and sacred music by gifted area students Sunday.

Musical Potpourri V, the final performance of the year at the former church, featured the talents of solo vocalists Milleta and Hunter Oldick, Rachael Takacs, Kelsey Stockwell and Melissa Bowley, as well as instrumentalists Benjamin Field, on trumpet; Ruben McFarlane, on viola; and Samantha Field, on piano.

Additionally, teacher Norma Bowley performed a work by Boellmann and accompanied the musicians on the keyboard.

The Rev. Kenneth Dingman, president of the hosting Palatine Church Society, offered words of welcome to the full house and invited guests to become members of the organization.

The society was established in the 1950s with the goal of maintaining and preserving the former Palatine Evangelical Lutheran Church, which was built by Lutheran Palatine Germans in 1770 with native limestone. It was one of the few colonial structures to survive the Revolutionary War era and the “Burning of the Valleys” campaign that swept through the Schoharie and Mohawk valleys during the fall of 1780.

The facility is no longer an active church; however it is used for church services, weddings and concerts during the year.

Dingman noted that society members are working on making the former church handicapped accessible but have a few challenges to overcome before that goal is realized.