The Ernie Murphy Christmas special is back for a third time.

This year the holiday concert, in memory of long-time musician Murphy, will take place Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre.

For 37 years, Ernie played piano and organ regularly at nine area churches, and he substituted at other churches, too. He had always wanted to put a Christmas program together but never had the chance.

Murphy’s daughters felt the best way to honor their father was to organize a Christmas program in his honor, where freewill donations would be taken and given to cancer research. Murphy succumbed to cancer in February 2009.