Meredith Bay Barbershop Harmony Jamboree comes to Lakes Region this weekend

MEREDITH — For 66 years, the Northeastern District Barbershop Harmony Society has hosted the Barbershop Harmony Jamboree in the Lakes Region, bringing together barbershop singing groups from all over the country. This year’s main concert is at 7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 15, with several other events being held Friday and Saturday, Aug. 14-15.

While the main event had previously been held in Alton Bay, this is the jamboree’s fifth year in Meredith. The weekend-long festival has been hosted in the Lakes Region for several decades, hosting a capella barbershop groups and choruses from as far as Texas and Maryland.

The festival consists of several events, including a jamboree dinner, a champions only show, a mini golf tournament, open mic performances, and the main Great Gathering Show on Saturday night.

The Great Gathering Show concert will have performances from 11 quartets and four choruses, three of which are based in the Granite State. Featured choruses from New Hampshire choruses are Sounds of Seacoast Chorus, a women's a capella group from Portsmouth; the Granite Statesmen of Nashua; and Seacoast Men of Harmony from Dover. 

Four barbershop organizations are involved with putting the festival together: Harmony Inc., Sing United International, Barber Harmony Society, and the Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Association. Sing United International and Harmony Inc. have both been active for over 70 years, with the history of barbershop groups dating back to the late 1800s.

“Barbershop singing is one of the only true American art forms,” said Karen Rourke, chair for the Meredith Bay Barbershop Jamboree.

This year, the event will hold a special performance from Barbershop Harmony Society International Quartet Champions GQ, an all-female a capella quartet from Baltimore, who have been singing together since high school. They are the first treble-voice group to win international gold in the competition’s history.

GQ will be featured in the festival’s special champions show at 8:15 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 14, at Meredith Community Center, along with the quartet group Continuem, who won gold at the Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Contest this year.

To view the entire weekend calendar of events, visit nedistrict.org/events/meredith-bay-jamboree-2026, or facebook.com/MeredithBayJamboree.

“The amount of talent we have this year is unprecedented,” Rourke said. “If you want to hear really good barbershop, come and listen.”