My wife and I drove to Bluffton to see the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Patriotic Pops concert. It had been scheduled at the local park, but due to the weather someone had the foresight to move it to a local air-conditioned church. We asked why the concert was not performing in Roanoke this year. The answer was someone thought it was boring. Also they had not been asked to perform. This orchestra is performing in the surrounding cities and no one thought it was boring,

The director Sameer Patel was marvelous and spoke to the audience as if we were all neighbors.

They had a sing along in which everyone participated and he said that this was the loudest response that he has had in the area.

We sang “America the Beautiful,” “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” “Yankee Doodle Came to Town,” “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “God Bless America.” None of this did we find boring.

Our many thanks to Steel Dynamics, NIPSCO, Bluffton Medical Center and all who contributed to this fine evening and a special thanks to the musicians who made this possible.

I might also add that this concert was free for anyone to enjoy.

ROBERT PETTS Roanoke