COLUMBUS - The sextet of singing bus drivers known as the METRA Balladeers will say sayonara to Columbus in November before heading to Japan to serenade the city of Kiryu. <br>
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It's a trip four years in the making. <br>
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In 1998, Verlinda Chaney, then a bus driver for METRA, the city's transit authority, suggested to the METRA director Lisa Goodwin that a singing group might be a good idea for the city. <br>
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Goodwin gave Chaney the go-ahead, and seven were chosen as the Balladeers from the two dozen or so who auditioned. One had to quit, leaving six Balladeers: Chaney, Mance Dailey, Pearlie Hickey, Luebirder Edge, Darrion Mitchell and June Patton. <br>
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The group performs oldies hits from the 1950s and 1960s, gospel and whatever else the audience requests. In 1999, the Balladeers caught the attention of the mayor of Kiryu, who was in Columbus for a visit. <br>
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The mayor invited them to come to his city to sing. <br>
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Mitchell has been a Columbus bus driver for 25 years and has been singing most of his life in church and in school choirs. <br>
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He said, ``The most exciting thing is representing the city of Columbus and seeing and singing in another country. You have to touch yourself everyday to believe it's really going to happen.'' <br>
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Kiryu, Columbus' sister city, is paying most of the transportation bill for the Balladeers; the city of Columbus also pitched in. The group is now raising money for their lodging by performing at the Government Center and free-lancing around town.
