For 30 minutes later this month, Elizabeth Enwright of Oswego will begin to live her dream. The Oswego High graduate and freshman SUNY Potsdam voice major will be part of a college all-star chorus, singing at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

“It’s very surreal,” she says.

It’s even more so, considering that the music bug only bit her six years ago. She says Oswego Middle School music teacher Ed Taverni “gave me the confidence to sing”. She took private lessons from SUNY Oswego’s Amanda Carnie, while working in the high school’s many music programs.

Carnie’s part of an honors chorus, made up of singers from many schools. She’ll perform Mozart’s “Vesperae Solennes de Confessore” (“Solemn Vespers”), a 30-minute long, 63 page religious work, at 8:30 p.m. on June 29 at the famed home of concert music.

“The key,” she says, “is not to think about all the famous people who’ve been on that stage, or I won’t be able to sing.”

Elizabeth is a student at the prestigeous and hard-to-get-into Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. The young woman who sang at weddings to make a few extra dollars cried when she was accepted at Crane, and now, less than a year later, she’s part of something even larger.

“I never expected to do big things,” she says, but admits that she’s raising her sights these days. “It makes me think a lot more is possible.”

She’d like to sing in a musical someday. On June 29th, she’ll be as close as a freshman can get to Broadway.

Oswego Harborfest has announced that the popular 50-50 Raffle to benefit Harborfest will return in 2009.

Farnham Family Services, an Oswego-based substance abuse treatment and prevention center, is now selling tickets for its 2009 Changing Lives Raffle.

As this column goes to press the 152nd Oswego County Fair should be in full swing at Sandy Creek. During the previous week the Heritage building was stocked full with many new and unique exhibits. We even brought down a piano for some live music!