With some help from their friends, the Hays Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Terry Crull, crowned the weekend with a sparkling Saturday evening concert. The Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center stage was decked with multicolor balloons topped with stars, lighted trees and garlands, all quite appropriate for a performance chock full of seasonal delights.

The orchestra began the concert with "Carol of the Bells." Then, joined by tenor soloist Joseph Perniciaro, they gave a performance of "O Holy Night" that made my "weary soul" rejoice, and closed that part of the program with Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on Greensleeves."

Following this, the Fort Hays Singers did a repeat performance of a short comic opera, "The Reluctant Dragon -- an Entertainment" by John Rutter, which they had introduced to Hays in 2006. Two of the main characters, the Boy and the Dragon, sung by soprano Katie Steinert and tenor Karl Pratt, respectively, returned this year. A new singer, baritone Calder Craig, took over as St. George. The little opera about a lovable dragon who really is "a good chap" is as delightful as ever, and the singers, wearing new Medieval and Renaissance costumes, were as attractive and amusing as ever.

Steinert looked incredibly cute in a navy blue tunic with a feathered cap, sang like an angel and moved like a ballet dancer. Pratt, a comic genius and fine singer, his impressive girth encased in black with a blue dragon-head hat and chestpiece trimmed in magenta, got the best laughs of the evening, especially when playing dead. And Craig, in a green tunic with a silver crest and purple tights, looked and acted every inch the perfect British public school boy. Everybody loved it -- and conductor Crull got a good laugh, too, tying on a strange, vaguely Renaissance style hat with two floppy horn-like appendages.

After intermission, a combo, Brad Dawson on trumpet, Chad Foust on guitar, Nick Foust on bass and Joel Zeiner on drums, provided a great change of pace with "Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire") by Mel Torme and Bob Wells. Dawson got a giggle from the audience with a brief riff of "Jingle Bells" that ended with a surprising jazz twist.

The Hays High Plains Barbershop Chorus then took over with a medley sung a cappella in close harmony. They looked and sounded just splendid -- I think many in the audience wished they had sung more.

The Hays Symphony returned with a number of Christmas carols, including "A Carol Festival," during which the audience was encouraged to sing along, and, now fully in the holiday spirit, they did, with gusto.

Finally, the orchestra got a good laugh at the end of the last number, "Sleigh Ride," when the flute section donned red antlers and there were red and green bows on the bassoons. The concert earned a standing ovation and, I hope, lots of money for Hays Symphony Guild scholarships and operational support.

* The next Hays Symphony Orchestra concert will be the Young Artist Concerto Competition at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6 in Beach/Schmidt.

Ruth Firestone is a supporter of music and theater in Hays.