Times Observer file photo Pops by the Fountain will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday on Second Avenue between Pennsylvania Avenue and Liberty Street in Warren.

Pops by the Fountain, the musical event that is the unofficial kickoff of the Warren Fourth of July celebration, returns.

The event, down for two years due to COVID-19, will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday on Second Avenue between Pennsylvania Avenue and Liberty Street in Warren.

The ensemble includes about 80 musicians — members of the Warren Philharmonic as well as students from the Warren County Summer Music School.

“Bryan Eckenrode, musical director and conductor of the Warren Philharmonic, will lead the musicians,” according to a release from Brenda Schnick. “This performance serves as the unofficial kickoff to the annual Warren 4th of July celebration.”

“This annual concert opens with a bagpipe fanfare, followed by pop selections, and closes with two fan favorites for Independence Day: ‘The Washington Post March’ and ‘Stars and Stripes Forever,'” Schnick said. “This year the pop selections include ‘Selections from a Chorus Line,’ ‘The Sound of Music,’ ‘The Waltzing Cat,’ ‘Selections from West Side Story,’ and the disco version of ‘A Fifth of Beethoven,'”

“Many performers from the Warren County Summer Music School will play a special role in this concert,” she said. “There will be dancers, a chorus, and student musicians.”

“Soprano Lauren Hiller will be our soloist for ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘Selections from West Side Story,” Schnick said.

There will be a rehearsal on Second Avenue at 5 p.m. on the day of the concert. “The public is invited to bring their lawn chairs and enjoy this annual festivity,” she said. “In case of rain the concert will be held at Warren Area High School.”

The project is made possible through the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. It is funded by the citizens of Pennsylvania through an annual legislative appropriation, and administrated locally by the Arts Council of Erie, Inc. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. The orchestra, a nonprofit 501c(3) organization is additionally funded through private and corporate sponsorships including the Barbara Baldwin Defrees Foundation, Community Foundation of Warren County, Conarro Family Foundation, and Betts Foundation.