A community praise band representing five Oil City churches will present Praise in the Park 2008 at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Justus Park. The Oil Heritage Festival event is open free to the public.

Justus Park will rock Sunday afternoon with the sounds of contemporary Christian music offered by a large contingent of local musicians and singers.

"Praise in the Park 2008 is a time for praise, entertainment and good food," said Jim Flaherty of Oil City, a coordinator for the annual Oil Heritage Festival event. "The idea behind it is to thank God for the blessings He has given this community."

The program, sponsored by the Oil City Ministerial Fellowship and open free to the public, will start at 2:15 p.m. with a brief dramatic show for children. It will be presented by a youth group under the direction of Stephanie Ralph of Calvary Temple.

The music gears up at 2:30 p.m.

"The selections will include a couple of hymns and lots of contemporary Christian Music," he said. "We encourage everyone to sing along."

The performance will feature nearly two dozen musicians and vocalists who represent their home churches of First Baptist, First Church of God, Calvary Temple, Trinity United Methodist and Oil City Free Methodist.

"Our community praise band is from those five churches and this marks the fourth year we've done this," said Flaherty, a member of First Baptist who is leading the group along with Beth Conkle of First Church of God and Julia Allman of First Baptist.

Those attending Praise in the Park can take lawn chairs to the performance which Flaherty said is "essentially a worship service without a speaker but with a lot of music and representing our many churches."

The program will conclude, he said, about 4 p.m.

The singers include: Beth Conkle, Kim Theuret, Kerrylee Miller, Julia Allman, Sue Evans, Tony Bavuso, Julie Sallade, Kenny Miller, Kaylene Myers, Jim Flaherty

The musicians include: keyboard, George Allman, Dennis Geib, Mark Witmer and Kaylene Myers; guitars, Jim Welch, Dan King, Lori Horn and Jim Flaherty; drums, Julia Allman and Kevin Fox; bass, Ed Shreffler and Mark Witmer; violin, Wendy Flaherty; percussion, Phyllis Witmer; trumpet, George Allman; banjo, Dan King.