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Around 300 local residents funneled into Thompson High School’s Concert Hall to enjoy music during this year’s Concert for a Cause on Oct. 22. (For the Reporter/Jason Homan)

By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

ALABASTER – Around 300 local residents funneled into Thompson High School’s Concert Hall to enjoy music during this year’s Concert for a Cause.

“It was very well received,” said Pam Nichols, the chairman of the Support Committee for the Alabama National Cemetery. “The audience was very enthusiastic, and I just was extremely pleased with how well it went.”

The annual Concert for a Cause fundraiser was held at Thompson High School on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 3 p.m.

“It is a fabulous facility,” Nichols said. “The acoustics were wonderful; the facility is wonderful. The staff at Thompson High School were so supportive and we just couldn’t have asked for a better venue and better support.”

This year’s edition of the concert featured the award-winning group Three on a String with Janice Rogers of Fox 6 as emcee.

“They both did an outstanding job,” Nichols said. “Three on a String put on a great show.”

Three on a String has opened for multiple well-known entertainers and received numerous accolades, including induction into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2023. The group features acoustic music and three-part harmonies in genres combined with elements of comedy.

“The first half of the show they did their more light-hearted comedic music and the second part of the show was their more patriotic and sentimental songs,” Nichols said.

Rogers introduced Three on a String during the event and discussed what Wreaths Across America means to her.

“Her brother Alvin (James Alvin Rogers) is buried at the national cemetery, and so it’s very personal to her,” Nichols said.

All proceeds from Concert for a Cause went toward benefiting Wreaths Across America at the Alabama National Cemetery.

Each year, the Support Committee for the Alabama National Cemetery coordinates a ceremony to lay wreaths on each and every grave within the Alabama National Cemetery. Wreaths Across America has become the largest event of the year at the ALNC and is one of the most attended holiday season events in the area.

‘”We’ll have a ceremony that includes a wreath laying for each branch of service,” Nichols said. “And at the end of the ceremony, we have a bag piper who leads all the family members away from the ceremony side to their loved one’s graves so they can lay their family members wreath. Once that is done, we have volunteers to go out and use the remainder of the wreaths for those folks who don’t have a family member present.”

The 15th annual Wreaths Across America Ceremony is currently scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 16 at 11 a.m.