Miracle on Main Street

Bare Voices will perform at annual tree lighting

Valerie Multra, Sports Editor|December 2, 2017

Photo by Photo used with permission of Nick Juknelis

The acapella group, Bare Voices, performed at the District Choral Festival earlier this year. Along with the festival, Bare Voices performs at multiple holiday events including Miracle on Main Street on December 2.

Bare Voices starts off their holiday season this weekend, including performing at Miracle on Main Street in downtown Lake Zurich at the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony. 

Miracle on Main Street will take place on Saturday, December 2 from 2-7pm.  Bare Voices will sing during the event before Santa Claus is introduced.

“I’m definitely excited to sing “Baby Please Come Home” because Jack Frommelt [junior] and I have a duet in it,” Calista Brown, junior Bare Voices singer, said. “It’s going to be really fun and a great performance, so everyone should check it out.”

Bare Voices learns ten acappella songs on their own, according to Brown, and depending on which holiday performance it is, they sing all ten or pick and choose which ones to do.

“We have a mix of sacred and secular [songs]. For instance, the event we sing at first in Long Grove is a church, so we probably will sing more of our sacred songs,”  Nick Juknelis, Bare Voices teacher, said. “Miracle on Main Street is a pretty secular event, so we will probably sing more of our secular pieces.”

Previously, the Chamber of Commerce was in charge of the Lake Zurich tree lighting and it was always the Saturday after Thanksgiving, according to Juknelis, which is also when the State football finals are. 

“LZHS went through a period of time a number of years ago when the football team was regularly going to State every year, and it became unfair to say to Bare Voices students, ‘You can not go to support the football team because you have to sing at the tree lighting,’” Juknelis said. “It got to a point where we gave up singing at the tree lighting because we wanted to make sure our students had a chance to go to the football game.”

Now, the Village of Lake Zurich has taken over Miracle on Main Street, according to Juknelis, and turned it into a big event, where they have a myriad of available activities and entertainment, including crafts, sleigh rides, reindeer, as well as welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Claus. The Village of Lake Zurich has also now pushed the date back to December, so now that the event is moved back, Juknelis says Bare Voices has performed there every single year.