With an America Sings! choral festival less than five months away, organizers are happy with the pace of preparations for the show, which could bring thousands of singers to the Shenango Valley.

The festival will be held May 15 at Sharon High School.

Aside from the music, the festival will spawn a wealth of community service projects to benefit local and regional entities.

So far, two schools have registered to participate -- Riverside Middle School in Ellwood City and Norwin High School in North Huntingdon -- and 47 schools have asked about the festival, said Judy Wellert, executive director of America Sings! Inc.

Most schools are from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland, with some interest coming from as far away as Georgia, South Carolina and Michigan.

With schools generally registering in February, Ms. Wellert said those numbers are a good start for the Sharon festival, the first that will be held in an area not known as a traditional tourist attraction.

America Sings! organizers hope the Sharon festival will be successful and lead to others in small towns.

About half of the schools that inquire about an America Sings! festival usually end up participating, Ms. Wellert said.

"At this point, we're confident there will be about 1,000 (singers)," Ms. Wellert said, adding that she's aiming to double that number.

Vic Ellenberger, spearhead of the local committee to host the America Sings! festival, said the number of inquiries left him "pretty excited" about the festival, but with a degree of trepidation.

"The thing that scares me is you can't make people as excited as you are until they've experience it," he said. Ellenberger, the Sharon High School choir director, helped organize a 1996 festival in Pittsburgh and has taken students annually to participate in the America Sings! group that marches in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York.

This year, April Micsky, who is substituting for Ellenberger while he is on long-term disability, took students to Macy's.

Cave Avenue Elementary School Assistant Principal Traci Valentino said students have written college essays about attending America Sings! festivals.

"They're writing about that as a life-altering experience," said Ms. Valentino, who is on the local committee.

Ellenberger said he knows of no Mercer County schools other than the host district that have committed to the festival.

"The Shenango Valley should be able to have one of these things by themselves is everyone gets on board," he said.

Aside from the singing performances and workshops that go on at the festival, the singers participate in community service projects in their hometown and on the day of the festival.

Ellenberger said he will have Sharon students available May 14, and hopes to have the city of Sharon find things for them to do.

"Whatever they need done in the city, they're going to have 400 to 500 kids to do those jobs," he said.

On the day of the festival, singers will donate canned goods to the Community Wood Warehouse, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to go to a homeless mission in Youngstown and probably one other place, toiletry-laden Kits for Kids that also will go to shelters.

Any money donated will be given to the Shenango Valley Transplant Fund.

John Jacobson, the founder and president of America Sings! will be at the festival, and Emily Crocker, vice president in charge of choral publications for Hal Leonard Corp., a Milwaukee-based publishing company, will hold workshops and lead choir directors in a performance.

Scott Babcock, who handles logistics for America Sings! will be visiting Sharon in January.

Schools interested in registering for the festival or finding out information about it can call 1-800-372-1222 or e-mail info@americasings.org