The Lunenburg Chamber of Commerce has reported setbacks to the upcoming Christmas Concert set at Lunenburg Middle School, citing lack of participation even though the chamber has advertised the concert since in July.

Chamber President Mel Payne confirmed that the rehearsals — which began Sept. 14 at the Kenbridge Community Center — did not yield the participants members have hoped for.

The concert, scheduled for Dec. 2, is still set to be held at Lunenburg Middle School. It’s set to raise funds for the Lunenburg County Health Services and the Victoria and Kenbridge chapters of the Salvation Army.

Payne cited that Concert Director Reginald Davis expressed concern about the lack of participation, saying that even if new members joined closer to the concert, there wouldn’t be enough time to train newer members in addition to the choir members who have practiced longer.

“We (cannot) get enough volunteers to sing is the problem at this point,” Payne said.

“We might be able to get more later on, but according to (Davis), we wouldn’t be able to keep starting and stopping all over for new members. He didn’t feel we had enough time to plan to rehearse to put on a good show together.”

Payne said Davis stepped down from his position recently as a result of the concerns.

He said the chamber is looking into alternative options for

the concert, which is set for the first week in December.

Payne said they have not canceled the event or its venue at Lunenburg Middle School.

“I don’t know the reason,” Payne said regarding lack of volunteers. “We used newspapers, we used flyers, we used radio, we used word of mouth (and) everything we could possibly do, but we didn’t get the response that we needed to get enough choir members.”

He said the chamber has other events it will be supporting and putting on during the holiday season.

“I still think (the concert’s) a great idea,” Payne said. “The chamber has had and is going to have a lot more great events.”