When Margo Emerson first heard the emotional choral refrains of the Spirit of America patriotic musical, she knew she had to get involved.

That was two years ago, when Emerson was a secretary for the First General Baptist Church. "I started out volunteering to work with the tickets and just anything that needed to be done," said Emerson.

When Frank Bain left his post as First General Baptist Church music director, however, Emerson was given an opportunity to take over the reins.

"I've got a musical background, having studied at Winona State in Minnesota," said Emerson. "But I wasn't able to use it for something like this until now," said Emerson, who succeeds Bain, the founder of Freedom Celebration in 1989, as the new music director.

The idea of the Freedom Celebration 1994 is to bring choral talent from various churches throughout the community along with volunteers to honor those who have fought for American independence.

"We try to feature some historical figure, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, someone like that, and then bring it all into focus with people who have served in various military branches," said Emerson.

"We like to have an active duty man in uniform come through the church during the celebration to tug on the heart strings just a little. It usually becomes a very emotional moment."

One such moment stands out in Emerson's memory. "We had some slides of Desert Storm and that really got the audience into an emotional state," she said. "It becomes more intense when there is a war going on during the time of the celebration."

The National Guard provides military vehicles which are parked outside of the church. "It tends to get pretty grandiose with all the decorations inside and outside the church," said Emerson.

The choir is comprised of 25 or more singers from several area churches. "There are a lot of behind-the-scenes people who work hard to make this a success," said Emerson. "We begin organizing, picking the music and slides and so forth, around January and keep going until everything is in place by June."

Performances will take place June 22-25 at 7:30 p.m. at the First General Baptist Church, located at 1812 Cape La Croix Road. A June 26 performance will take place at 3 p.m.

"There has been a good response from the community," said Emerson. "We've received help with some of the expenses, such as obtaining the color slides, which cost around $1,100. But there are other expenses we need to take care of and we do that with the admission."

Each presentation involves a salute to the American Armed Forces and those who served in different branches of the military. The local Armed Forces recruiting station supplies the Freedom Celebration with a color guard.

At one point veterans in the crowd are asked to stand in order to be recognized with a salute for their courage and commitment to freedom.

"We'll be giving a 10-minute performance with the Cape Municipal Band June 29 and there will be a 7 p.m. singing at the Veterans Home June 27," said Emerson. "The purpose of the entire event is to reach out to the community, saluting our freedoms with a mixture of good old patriotic music," she added.

Individual skits will be designed to salute early Americans such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Davy Crockett will be saluted as part of the celebration. In addition, Patrick Henry's famous speech "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" will be recited by a cast member.

The 25-member adult choir and 12-member children's choir will perform in between the skits and narrations.

Anyone interested in securing tickets for the event should call (314) 334-2234 or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to : First General Baptist Church, 1812 Cape LaCroix Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63701. Tickets are $2 per person.