Al “The Singing Principal” deCant opened this year’s Tuneful Tuesdays concert series with a fun show at Edmond Town Hall.

The series is planned for Tuesday afternoons at Dickinson Park, but this week’s heat necessitated the move to an indoor venue.

Dozens of children were at the June 29 program, which began shortly after 2 pm. The singing principal was quick to get children on their feet, where they spent the next hour singing, dancing, and laughing. DeCant was joined this week by fellow vocalist Jill Kubeck, and backed by Jim Olden on electric guitar and 9-year-old Jake Olden on upright bass.

In addition to the headlining performance on stage, children were surprised with a special guest when they arrived at the town hall. Pete the Cat, the fictional cat, created by illustrator James Dean and usually seen in children’s books, was in the town hall lobby to meet some of his local fans before the first Tuneful Tuesdays concert of the season.

While some children hung back, not sure what to make of the big blue cat in the bright yellow shirt, others ran right up and gave Pete hugs. Charlotte Logue was so happy, she did a little dance and giggled for a moment before giving the big blue cat a hug.

Tuneful Tuesdays, which is co-sponsored by C.H. Booth Library and Claris Construction, will continue with Steve Elci & Friends on July 6; T-Bone (Tom Stankus), July 13; Francine Wheeler, July 20; Mr Gym, July 27; and Vanessa Trien & The Jumping Monkeys, August 3.

Concerts are performed from the park's bandshell, which faces a large, flat, grassy area with plenty of room of seating. The concerts start at 2. Easiest access to the bandstand area is off Deep Brook Road, just west of the skate park.

In the event of rain — or extremely high temperatures, like last week — Tuneful Tuesday will move to the Edmond Town Hall Theatre, 45 Main Street. Parents are strongly encouraged to register for these shows to ensure that seating is available should a performance be moved indoors.

Register at chboothlibrary.org for these concerts.

=====

Associate Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.