Chorus fundraiser hopes to be annual.

Music from the Kent State Men’s Chorus will fill downtown Saturday for its First Annual Homecoming Sausage Fest. The chorus will share its tunes along with musical guests such as the Kent State Marching Band, the Hall of Fame Chorus and other barbershop quartets.

Christopher Hook, who coordinated the event, said the Sausage Fest “is a way to allow the community to hear what we are doing, so we are offering a free concert outside so people can enjoy listening to us.”

The chorus will be selling Italian sausages for $3, hotdogs for $2 and soft drinks for $1. Singing will last from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The marching band will perform at 11:30 a.m., as well.

“We felt like doing a sausage fest would get attention, that the funny title would attract people and make them come out,” Hook, a senior French and international relations major, said. “We have gotten mixed reactions from the community (about the name), but it has created a lot of buzz.”

Ben Ayling, director of the Men’s Chorus, said the chorus will donate 10 percent of the proceeds to the Portage County United Way. The rest of the money will go toward the chorus’ $19,000 spring tour, during which it travels to five states over 11 days.

Zach Kanter, president of the Men’s Chorus and senior music education major, said the chorus adopted the Sausage Fest from a similar fundraiser. He said the chorus plans to tie the event into Homecoming and make it an annual university event.

“Hopefully I come back in 10 years and they’re still doing it,” Kanter said.

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Contact reporter Shauna Carter at [email protected].