Every year, the Alton High School’s symphonic orchestra program plays at The Nature Institute. The theme of this year’s concert is Fright Night. 

“It is our fourth year doing it,” Orchestra director Laura Plummer said. “We started in Fall of 2021. Before that, for a few years, Alton Symphony used to do a spring concert at The Nature Institute and it was a big thing for them. The Nature Institute reached out to me in the summer of 2021 saying ‘Hey, we’d like to start it up again.’” Orchestra director Laura Plummer said. 

Students in the Orchestra program have to practice their songs before the concert. They have practices every Wednesday of September from 3:30 to 5 p.m. to prepare themselves and their instruments.

“The preparation consists of a few rehearsals every week and we’re practicing really hard and we’ve been having a lot of fun recently,” junior violin player Makenzie Rayfield said.

The concert tickets are $6 for students and $12 for adults. There will also be food trucks there. Most people bring lawn chairs or picnic blankets for seating because there are no seats there. The concert is in an outdoor environment, so weather might affect the concert. The forecast for Friday is 90 degrees with partly cloudy skies. 

“People can start arriving at 5:30 p.m.. The concert starts at 6 p.m. and it runs about an hour. We can’t go much longer because of sunset. It’s always just a gorgeous night,” Plummer said.

The Nature Institute prohibits pets and any form of smoking or drug usage. There is a shuttle that drives people to the ski range. It has free parking. The Nature Institute overlooks The Mississippi River.

“Playing at The Nature Institute is really fun. The background is very pretty. The sound really echoes and it’s really something,” Rayfield said.