By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

With this year's lineup of artists, the group's sales leaders are wondering if that mark could be topped again.

"I thought it got as good as it gets last year," said Vi Ranney, a sales associate for Allied Concerts, who books the group's shows. "I just can't believe there's going to be enough memberships to go around."

The group formally unveiled its 2008-09 concert season, its 77th annual, at its kickoff banquet on Tuesday.

The shows include a Gershwin revue, a choral octet called Counterpoint, the Little Angels of Korea, bass vocalist Kevin Maynor, a group of three tenors called Romanza and the Synergy Brass Quintet.

Kathy Aufdemberge, president of the association's board, noted that four of the six acts involve vocals in some form.

"This year, it just seemed like everything fell in place to have a more vocal series," she said.

Ranney pointed to the Little Angels of Korea, who will perform next Feb. 2, as a highlight of the series. The 46-year-old Korean folk ballet group is made up of about 30 girls ages 8 to 15 and has performed for kings and queens and at the Olympics, she said.

The concert association's leaders said the series has done much over the decades to keep the fine arts alive in Central Nebraska.

One-third of its members come from outside Grand Island, hailing from places as far away as York, Broken Bow and Ord, said Stan Urwiller, the group's membership chairman.

And those people head into Grand Island as many as six times a year for shows, often combining those trips with shopping or other errands.

"It makes Grand Island a destination place," Ranney said.

The group's membership has grown from about 1,000 in 1994 to 1,750 now, mostly through the effort of its dozens of salespeople, Urwiller said.

All the work pays off when the concerts come. Aufdemberge recalled hearing several gushing compliments and thank-yous while leaving concerts in this year's series.

"They're just effusive in their joy of being here," she said.