Participation in the Niles Area Community Orchestra has tripled over the past few months.

David Rumpf, who runs The Music Academies in Niles with his wife, said the orchestra has 36 members, up from about a dozen earlier this year.

Rumpf and his wife, Valerie, have been spearheading the effort to start an orchestra in Niles.

“It has been a very fun experience bringing all these people to Niles and producing great music,” he said. “A lot of them played before, but stopped. They’ve resurrected that old feeling, and they are loving it.”

The growth has allowed the Niles Area Community Orchestra to put on a spring concert at 4 p.m. May 6 at the Queen Anne Room of the Four Flags Hotel in Niles. Admission is one nonperishable food item for the Niles Salvation Army.

“(The concert) will feature anything from classical music to music from Warner Bros. Cartoons,” David said.

Orchestra members as young as 15 and as old as 70 practice in the basement of the New Apostolic Church, which is supporting the concert.

David said the orchestra has grown so much he is in the process of applying it for status as a nonprofit organization. That would allow the orchestra access to grants that could further promote the growth of orchestral music in the area.

“We’d love to get string music back in the schools,” David said.

The orchestra is still looking for new members. It is open to anyone ages 12 and older that lives in the greater Niles area. They have members from Buchanan, Sawyer, Niles, Dowagiac, St. Joseph and Granger, Ind.

Rehearsals are held twice a month, usually on Sunday afternoon.

Several more concerts are planned for this year.

For more information, contact The Music Academies at (269) 362-5780.