Get the tubas out and decorated, because TubaChristmas is on it’s way to help boost the holiday cheer.

Austin’s fifth Merry TubaChristmas will be at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, at Oak Park Mall in Austin and is a free holiday show for the public.

“[There’s] people from all over southern Minnesota that come, and they all have the love of playing the tuba,” Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Nancy Schnable said.

Merry TubaChristmas concerts have attracted hundreds of performers and audience members of all ages.

According to Schnable, the performances have become an established tradition throughout the world for 41 years, but in Austin it’s only on it’s fifth year.

“It’s kind of unique because it’s not just the people from the Austin community,” she said.

But this is the last year TubaChristmas will be able to perform at the Oak Park Mall, as much of it will likely be demolished and renovated over the next few years after the city of Austin and the Austin Port Authority announced a $3.2 million deal to purchase the site last month from Chicago-based Martin Graff of M H Graff & Associates Inc. and Martin Goldman of M J Goldman & Co. Ltd., the businessmen behind Oak Park Mall Ltd. Partnership and Oak Park Mall Land Ltd. Partnership. The Hormel Foundation granted the $3.2 million to the city to purchase the site, while the city is expected to demolish most of the mall to make way for a 60,000- to 90,000-square-foot Hy-Vee grocery store.

Schnable said the mall has been generous over the last five years to let TubaChristmas perform in the site, but she is hopeful they will find a new place to play for next year.

“We have a couple other locations that we are looking into,” she said. “We’ll find a place for it, and it should be an incredible show this year as well.”

Although they don’t have the place yet, next year’s date is already set for Dec. 5, 2015.

Performers come from all over southern Minnesota, and they pay a small fee to perform in the concert. Last year there were about 30 performers, and this year there are more than 40 already signed up, with a potential for more up until the day of the concert.

“It’s definitely growing the more years we have it,” Schnable said.

Any tuba, sousaphone or euphonium players who would like to participate are welcome to be a part of Austin’s Merry TubaChristmas. Registration starts at 11 a.m. Saturday and is $10. This will be followed by rehearsal, lunch, and the concert, all in the Oak Park Mall. Musicians should bring their own instrument and a stand and can be decked out from tuba to toe with holiday cheer.

There are three different music directors, including Brad Mariska, Dennis Conroy and Jane Orvik.

“It’s very unique that everybody gets involved in their own little way,” Schnable said.

The group will play about 13 different songs this year, and Schnable said in past years audience members have joined in and sang the lyrics to some of the songs.

“It really involves everybody,” she said. “It’s just a phenomenal thing to experience.”

Merry TubaChristmas began in 1974 at the Ice Rink Stage of New York City’s Rockefeller Center, where more than 300 tuba, baritone and euphonium players gathered to honor the memory of world-renowned tuba player and Iowa native William J. Bell, who was born on Christmas day, 1902. TubaChristmas was created by Harvey Phillips to honor Bell, and the traditional carols were specially arranged for the first TubaChristmas performance by American composer Alec Wilder, who died Christmas Eve, 1980.

For more information or to participate, contact the Austin Convention Visitors Bureau at 507-437-4563.