The Salvation Army of Portsmouth is hosting a free concert at 2 p.m. today in Tracy Park. The featured band will be Swoneky Brass And The Voices, which is made up entirely of Salvation Army personnel from Southwest Ohio and Northeast Kentucky.

"If it's raining at the time of the concert we'll have it at the Salvation Army Building. We'll have free hot dogs and pop for everyone," said Mark Ferreira of the Salvation Army.

"The concert is not serving as a benefit for the Salvation Army. It's more of an outreach and ministry for us. This is part of the spiritual end of things," Ferreira said. "The band plays music that is religious in nature; the marches we play have hymn tunes to them."

Ferreira said no donations will be asked for during the concert; the event is designed to allow people to have fun.

"We will be playing mostly marches along with some worship style music and a little bit of jazz," Ferreira said.

"We want to get a crowd together and tell people what's going on at the Salvation Army and to share the love of Christ," Ferreira said. "The Salvation Army has a long tradition of band music. A lot of folks in our community would remember the days when Salvation Army Brass Bands would be seen on the streets. We do not have enough musicians locally to have our own band right now, but it's our hope to generate some interest in that. We hope that in the near future we'll be able to have a strong band in our city again."

WAYNE ALLEN may be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 208, or wallen@heartlandpublications.com.