Proceeds go to New Richland Area Foundation

By DEB BENTLY

Staff Writer

New Richland residents are in for a treat; Adam Moen and Gavin Berg are scheduled to perform for a New Richland Foundation fundraiser that will have folks flocking to Trinity Lutheran Church Dec. 9 and 10.

“The NRHEG community is where we learned to sing and to play instruments,” says Adam Moen. “It gave us a foundation for everything that’s followed.”

“People talk about how it takes a village to raise a child,” observes Gavin Berg. “Well, this is our village. The people here are always with us because they’re part of who we are.”

Which is why the two are excited about their upcoming concert to benefit the New Richland Area Foundation, an organization which raises money to support causes throughout the community. Their performance will be presented twice at Trinity Lutheran Church at 204 First Street NW in New Richland at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9 and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10. Joining them as a special guest on some numbers will be NRHEG 2023 graduate Eva Wayne, daughter of Brandon and Jodi Wayne. Free will donations will be accepted at the door.

“People can expect a fun combination of traditional and secular songs,” says Moen. “We have a variety of music with a lot of different moods: fun, sentimental, and singalongs.”

Berg, a 2002 graduate of NRHEG, is an accomplished keyboard player and musician currently serving as organist at Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park.

Moen, a 2008 graduate, has performed in numerous productions at Chanhassen Dinner Theater and at the Ordway and Guthrie theaters. He speaks with warm gratitude of busloads of NRHEG residents who have attended his performances.

The two have had a lifelong friendship, having first performed together 20 years ago in a production of The Sound of Music directed by Mark Rud. Berg played Captain Von Trapp while then sixth-grader Moen was one of the family’s children.

To hear Moen and Berg tell it, the upcoming concerts are practically inevitable: “It’s something we’ve thought of doing a number of times,” says Moen. “So when the idea was suggested during Farm and City Days this year, we jumped at the chance.”

“It’s special to be part of a community like this one,” he said. “It feels good to be giving something back.”