Northshore Gospel Choir & Dr. Valerie Francis

Name: Northshore Gospel Choir & Dr. Valerie Francis
Start: 2025-12-06T18:30:00-06:00
End: 2025-12-06T21:00:00-06:00
Location: 430 Lamarque St, Mandeville, LA, United States, Louisiana 70448

Schedule

Sat Dec 06 2025 at 06:30 pm to 09:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

430 Lamarque St, Mandeville, LA, United States, Louisiana 70448 | Mandeville, LA

NORTHSHORE GOSPEL CHOIR (first set)
DR. VALERIE FRANCIS (second set)
Saturday, December 6th
Doors 5:30pm, Music 6:30-9pm
Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall
Back again this season after their successful premiere in 2023, the Northshore Gospel Choir will make a triumphant, joyful return to the Dew Drop’s historic stage. The choir is composed of talented singers from local African-American churches and led by the engaging music director Dr. Maurice Moncure. The first set will feature the gospel choir and maybe a special guest or two. Along with gospel favorites & hymns a few holiday tunes will likely make the repertoire as we showcase the talents of our neighbors from First Free Mission Baptist Church, Morning Star Baptist Church and several other congregations. This dynamic group of singers moves seamlessly from tender, almost whispered passages to soaring, full-bodied declarations that lift audiences to their feet. This joyful celebration has become an annual tradition & celebrates the community’s rich history in Old Mandeville.
The second set will feature vocalist Dr. Valerie Francis, an accomplished educator and cultural steward whose performances resonate with depth, history and emotion. When Dr. Valerie Francis takes the stage for a gospel performance, the air shifts - her voice carrying both the power of a Sunday morning choir and the intimacy of a heartfelt prayer. She effortlessly blends classical precision with the soul-stirring warmth of her New Orleans heritage, turning familiar hymns and spirituals into deeply personal testaments of faith and resilience. Backed by her rich understanding of the Negro spiritual tradition, Dr. Francis doesn’t just sing gospel - she embodies it, channeling its history, joy and unshakable hope into every note.
Presented by the Friends of the Dew Drop, this concert will feature home-cooked food for purchase provided by the Ladies of First Free Mission Baptist Church, located next door. Soft drinks, water, beer and wine will be available for purchase. The concert begins at 6:30pm and will run till 9pm.
Admission is $10 per adult. Students and children can enter free. No outside food or drinks are allowed and lawn chairs can be used outside the hall on the grounds. Please, no smoking allowed on premises, and no pets allowed, except certified service animals.
About the Dew Drop: In 1885, a group of civic-minded African American residents of the village of Mandeville, led by the late Olivia Eunio, created the Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Association. A decade later, in 1895, the organization laid a cornerstone and constructed a small wooden building 2 1/2 blocks from Lake Pontchartrain on Lamarque Street. The Association, like many created among African American residents following the Civil War, had chiefly benevolent goals - to care for the sick, provide help with funeral arrangements, food & temporary housing - all during a time when black residents could not obtain various types of insurance. Starting around the turn of the century, and for more than 40 years the Dew Drop was a sparkling center of musical activity for the neighborhood and community. Documentation reveals that early jazz greats such as Buddie Petit, Kid Ory, Bunk Johnson, George Lewis and even Louis Armstrong shared the small stage inside the building.
Today, known as one of the oldest, unaltered rural jazz halls in the U.S. the 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, Friends of the Dew Drop, schedules and manages the hall’s performances and educational activities (JazzKids). Along with hundreds of evening concerts presented in the historic hall over two decades the Friends of the Dew Drop have also gifted 50+ free JazzKids music assemblies and master classes since 2015 to schools in St. Tammany Parish, reaching over 12,000 local students in grades PreK-12.
The mission of the Friends of the Dew Drop is to preserve the Dew Drop Jazz Hall and promote its significance in the origins and the cultural history of Mandeville though music performances, music education programs and benevolent activities in support of local and emerging artists.
For more information, please visit www.dewdropjazzhall.com.