Our History

History

The Gainesville Chapter of Sweet Adelines International received its charter on March 13, 1974. Known as the Gainesville Sweet Adelines for many years, the name was later changed to The Gainesville Harmony Show Chorus. We have been a small, but mighty voice in our Coastal Harmony Region 9 which includes choruses in the state of Florida, southern Georgia and the southern tip of South Carolina.

We have been an awarding-winning chorus from the beginning.  In the small chorus category (up to 30 members), we have earned 11 first place, 4 second place and 2 third place awards.  In April 2015, we placed 1^st Small Chorus and 5^th overall – the seventh time we’ve double medaled at Regional Competition. Our scores in that event made us eligible to compete at the Sweet Adelines International Harmony Classic competition in Las Vegas in 2016, and we placed 5^th against small choruses from around the world.

In 1996, Sweet Adelines International introduced the first small chorus festival. The highest scoring small chorus from each region was invited to St. Louis to participate on the international stage. We were delighted to be part of that initial group. Four years later (in 2000), for the first time small and medium chorus competitions were held in every regional competition. Our chorus scored in the top 5 in the world for the small chorus division. In 2015 we again qualified for the Harmony Classic International Competition and placed 5^th in that contest in Las Vegas among small choruses worldwide.