Region 13 history

In 1955, Northwest Region 13 was formed and covered Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Western Canada. Only quartets competed back then, at the Northwest Barbershop Quartet Contest. Seattle Shores Chorus, shown top right, was already two years old at this point, having chartered in 1953. They are our oldest (and still active) chorus! Our first regional contest was three years later in Burnaby, BC, Canada. Both quartets and choruses competed; Puget Sound won the chorus contest and the Trim Tones were the first place quartet.

1960 brought a name change and we became Northwestern Region 13. The Sixties also saw the crowning of Region 13's only championship quartet, The Sea-Adelines Quartet (shown bottom right), in 1962.

Another name change came our way in 1975, when we became North Pacific Region 13. As we said "Hello" to a new name, we also had to say, "Goodbye" to our friends in Oregon and Montana, who first joined to Region 12 and then formed Region 24 in the spring of 1981. At that same time, Western Canada formed Region 26 and our Region changed to the Board of Directors form of management.

Things stayed relatively the same for the next 20 years. Harmony Bazaar started in 1984 and in 1985 we awarded our first year Novice Director award at Regional Contest.

Another management format was introduced by SAI in 1995, when regions became governed by Regional Management Teams. Soon after in 1996, the InTune was introduced as a new regional publication, and the following year The Clover Leaf regional newsletter—which had been around since 1964—was given a new name, Afterglow.

1998 was the first year a chorus from Eastern Washington—Spokane Falls Chorus (now known as Spirit of Spokane Chorus and shown on middle right)—took first place! This was also the first year for the Thursday Night program at Regional Contest and the addition of Longevity Awards at the Regional Annual Membership Meeting (RAMM) Breakfast the following morning.