Eight really old veterans will perform today and Sunday at Belle Mehus City Auditorium, their final performances after serving their choir honorably for half of their lives.

They were in fourth grade when they became some of the first members of the new 64-member Central Dakota Children's Choir. Now, they're high school seniors heading for college, all of them.

That's nine years of singing service that they gave the Central Dakota Children's Choir.

"What am I supposed to do on Sunday nights, now?" said Chelsie Tryhus, 17, a Century High School senior.

For nine years, that has been choir practice night.

As the years went by, most of the original choir members dropped out, while other new singers joined in, but these eight girls kept showing up year after year.

"I'm so proud of them, so proud that they've had the initiative to stay with us all this time," said Teri Fay Storhaug, CDCC's artistic director who was the eight singers first choir director all those nine years ago.

It took a while for Katie Mattern, 18, to develop that initiative. She said in a recent interview that she recalls being at a Sunday brunch many years ago with her parents when they brought up the surprising bit of news that she was going to join this new children's choir.

"I originally didn't want to be in it. I was totally against it," she said. ""I thought it would be stupid to sing with a bunch of kids, and I didn't think Iwas good at singing."

But she started liking it right away. "It created a wealth of talent for singing that I wouldn't have developed," she said.

It wasn't completely wonderful. She said there were a few irritating participants, kids who would talk out of turn and "say things that weren't relevant."

"I was kind of mature for my age," said Mattern, who plans to become an attorney.

Tryhus said the choral experience influenced her to go into music therapy. She'll start college at Bismarck State College and finish up at University of North Dakota.

In addition to Mattern and Tryhus, the other singers who have stuck it out all those years are Tori Wisthoff, Mari Biel, Anna daSilva, Katharine Demke, Annie McConnell and Kasey Storhaug.

As the eight singers got older, ready to move into seventh grade, choir organizers had to add a middle school choir, because the original choir only allowed fourth- through sixth-graders. And then officials had to add high school choirs to accommodate the original eight and because the organization was growing.

CDCCnow has 310 singers in five choirs.

The eight singers' last concerts take place at 7:30 tonight and 4 p.m. Sunday at the Belle Mehus City Auditorium.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for students and are free for children 5 and younger.

For more information, call 258-6516.