Vic Ellenberger has wanted to host an America Sings! festival in Sharon for years.

"The idea of America Sings! is so great and the word needs to be spread," said the Sharon High School choir director, who has taken students to sing in several America Sings! events.

But Ellenberger has had a hard time convincing the organization to give the city a try.

America Sings! generally holds choral festivals in big cities or at tried-and-true tourist destinations, which encourages singing groups to come and people already there for vacation to drop by and see what's going on.

"I really don't think you need a Disney World to go and participate," Ellenberger said.

John Jacobson, founder and president of America Sings!, said the problem never was Ellenberger's idea. Lots of other small towns have asked to host festivals.

"I've always had this thought of doing America Sings! in real-town America," said Jacobson, reached at his home in Edgewood, Calif. "It wouldn't be a place where people would say, 'Yes, I want to go there for my school trip.' ''

Ellenberger became friends with Jacobson when he attended a workshop Jacobson was giving, and that relationship ended up cementing Sharon as the site for the first America Sings! small-town festival.

"It has been the relentless pursuit of Vic and others there to make us say, 'All right, we'll do it,'" Jacobson said.

The festival is set for May 15, 2004, at the Sharon football stadium.

"I think the world of the people of Sharon," said Jacobson, who spends two or three days a year in Sharon working with Ellenberger's students. "I've met a lot of people from Sharon and I really feel at home there."

America Sings! festivals attract predominantly school singing groups, but also church choirs and other singing ensembles.

The festivals feature from 45 to 450 choruses, and 1,000 to 15,000 singers, averaging 3,000 students.

But the festivals are not just about entertainment. The students perform community service projects in advance of the festival and on the grounds the day of the festival, from making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to assembling "Kits For Kids" of household items, all for needy families in the community.

"What we learn through music we don't forget," Jacobson said. "If they learn service through music, they'll never forget it."

The festivals usually end up with "a really big truck" of goods for needy families, and pumps dollars into local charities.

While America Sings! accepts donations for charities, "We are glad to take it and disburse it, but we want them to donate it in their own community," Jacobson said.

Ellenberger said his students have enjoyed everything about America Sings! festivals, from the singing and dancing to meeting other students.

"It's a real emotional high for them," he said.

The community service aspect of the festival also contributes to the high.

"They just feel good that they've helped somebody," Ellenberger said. "Kids are good-natured and sometimes have a better feel for helping people than adults do."

The festivals often attract food and souvenir vendors and are ringed with community service tents, where students work on projects. One stage is built for every 20 singing groups.

Invited guests help students improve their artistry and encourage philanthropy, Jacobson said.

"It's sort of a G-rated Woodstock," said Jacobson, who culminates each festival by leading a mass choir of all the participants.

The big draw is the daylong music.

Jacobson, who originated America Sings! festivals in 1989, said he thinks Sharon still will be able to attract out-of-town singing groups, as the major-city festivals do.

"I think we'll have schools and choirs from many states come into Sharon," he said. "The big thing that really makes America Sings! successful is getting a bunch of kids there. It always works. We have never had a failure of a festival."

But he's hoping the Mercer County area will embrace the festival in ways that big cities don't.

In a big town, "There are so many things going on," Jacobson said. "You're one of many events. We hope in Sharon we can be the event for the day. My goal in Sharon is to get everybody in town."

Jacobson said the more the community takes "ownership" of the festival, the more successful it will be.

It costs money to set up stages and bring in portable toilets. Local sponsors are sought to offset these and other costs.

"Any money that can go to these costs frees up money to go to local causes," Jacobson said.

Ellenberger, who helped to organize a Pittsburgh festival in 1996, said he's hoping to attract sponsors and volunteers to handle chores such as parking and crowd control, and stage fund-raisers to hold down the costs for students.

Letters will be going out to schools within about three hours' driving distance, inviting them to send singing groups.

"Everybody I've spoken with is very, very excited," Ellenberger said. "We could put Sharon on the map."

Jacobson said the Sharon festival is an experiment for the organization, but pulling off a successful festival here could pave the way for other small-town hosts.

"What could be really fabulous, if it works in Sharon, is we could take the paradigm out across the country, 'Here's how they did it,' '' Jacobson said.

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