Join us on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
Pianists Donovan Diedrich and Joan Davis will return to the First Friday Concert at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1000 Michigan Ave., La Porte, at 12:10 p.m. Dec. 5.
Diedrich has played since the age of 16. He enjoys playing ragtime, swing and Christmas music and has played in numerous recitals, concerts, weddings and at businesses. He enjoys baking and has been an overnight stocker at WalMart since 2020.
Davis started playing piano at the age of 8, taught by her grandmother. She earned a bachelor's degree in theater technology at the University of Wyoming, with a minor in music education with an emphasis on voice. She has taught piano and voice since 1991 and has been employed at Roxy since 2006. She has played, sung with and directed choirs at several area churches since 1998.
St. Paul's is handicap-accessible through the Harrison Street entrance, attendees are encouraged to bring their lunch for the half-hour program. There is no charge, but a free-will offering box is available to sustain the series.
Join us on Tuesday, December 2, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
Join us on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
The First Friday Concert at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1000 Michigan Ave., La Porte, at 12:10 p.m. Nov. 7, will feature organist and carillonneur John Gouwens.
John Gouwens served as Organist and Carillonneur at Culver Academies from 1980 to 2019. He is now Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, and Carillonneur at The Presbyterian Church, both here in La Porte. He is very active in every aspect of the carillon field, including composing and arranging music, authoring a method book for teaching, performing throughout North America and Europe, and consulting on carillon installations (including The Children’s Carillon at The Presbyterian Church). He studied organ at Indiana University (with Clyde Holloway), The University of Michigan (with Robert Glasgow and Robert Clark), and at The University of Kansas. At the latter, his main emphasis, ultimately, was carillon, which he studied with Albert Gerken. He proceeded directly from Kansas to his position at Culver. He has made eight recital tours in Europe, most recently in the summer of 2023, playing recitals in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland.
St. Paul's is handicap-accessible via the Harrison Street entrance. People are encouraged to bring their lunches for the half-hour concert. There is no charge, but a free-will offering box is available to sustain the series.
Join us on Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
Join us on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m. We give thanks to The Terre Verde Garden Club for providing and serving this meal of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dessert.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
The First Friday Concert at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1000 Michigan Ave., La Porte, at 12;10 p.m. Oct.3, will feature jazz pianist Billy Foster and his wife, Renee Miles-Foster.
Foster is a composer, educator, and producer who has been an active professional musician for the past 35 years. He has performed across the U.S. with others, as well as with his own groups. He has written and produced recordings with both the “Billy Foster and Audio” and the “Billy Foster Trio.”
Foster is a featured soloist on two of guitarist Henry Johnson’s CDs on MCA records. His work as a pianist and composer with the “Valparaiso University Faculty Jazz Trio” can be heard on the CDs, “CDs For The Moment” and the 2010 recording “Journey.” Foster has also written and produced music for several television commercials.
He retired after 35 years as a music teacher in the Gary Community School Corporation and was jazz piano instructor at Valparaiso University from 1980-2014. He has served on the Indiana Arts Commission Advisory Panel for three years.
Foster received his Bachelor of Science from Defiance College and a Master of Music from Roosevelt University with additional study at New York University. He has studied with famed jazz pianist, Jaki Byard. Currently, Foster teaches piano and Jazz History at Indiana University Northwest.
He recently played at the Chicago Jazz Festival, has been playing at Winter's Jazz club in Chicago, Merriman's Playhouse in South Bend and has played at the Elkhart Jazz Festival.
Miles-Foster began singing at an early age, influenced by the sounds of her parents lovingly sharing their radio and albums with jazz music, showcasing prolific American jazz giants of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.
She absorbed the wonderful artistry of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Mahalia Jackson, Johnny Hartman, and Billy Holiday.
She enrolled in the Indiana University Northwest campus and later transferred to Indiana University Bloomington. Miles-Foster was awarded a scholarship from the African American Studies Department allowing her to further her studies in gospel and spiritual music at Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, with the renowned Dr. Wendell Whalum.
Miles-Foster has advanced her professional career and has been blessed with the opportunity to branch into many wonderful and life-changing settings. As protégé of the internationally acclaimed diva Donna Hightower, she was invited to travel abroad to Munich and Frankfurt, Germany, and Switzerland.
St. Paul's is air-conditioned and handicap-accessible via the Harrison Street entrance. People are encouraged to bring their lunches for the half-hour concert. There is no charge, but a free-will offering box is available to sustain the series.
Join us on Tuesday, October 16, 2025 at 6 p.m. for a delicious free meal, including sides and desserts. Doors open at 5:30 for drinks and popcorn and close at 7 p.m. We give thanks to The La Porte Service League for providing and serving this meal of mostaccioli, vegetable sides, salad, garlic bread, and dessert.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend. Share this post. Hope to see you there!
St. Paul’s is located at 1000 Michigan Avenue but please enter from Harrison Street doors.
