Volume 137 • Issue 51
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
kmherald.com • 704-484-1047
75¢
“Keyboards at Christmas” this Sunday, December 21 Council Member Jimmy West (right) presents a plaque to outgoing Council Member Mike Butler, honoring his 20 years of service. (Photo by Allyson Parker)
Vocal citizens and heartfelt goodbyes Part one of KM City Council Meeting December 9, 2025 On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, the Kings Mountain City Council convened for its first scheduled meeting of the month. Due to the significant length of the proceedings, this report covers the session’s opening, citizen concerns, and council farewells. A subsequent article will detail the swearing-in ceremony for the newly elected council members. The session began at 6 p.m. with a quorum present,
noting the absence of Council Member Phil Dee. Every vote taken during this portion of the meeting was unanimous. Mayor Rob Wagman called the meeting to order, followed by an invocation led by Kings Mountain Police Chaplain Bill McCombee and the Pledge of Allegiance. Citizen Concerns Item Five—Citizen Recognition—marked a key moment of the night. Mayor Wagman opened the floor by reminding citizens of the rules of order governed by See COUNCIL, Page 5A
One of the area’s most unusual musical events will once again be presented on the stage of First Baptist Church at 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM, this Sunday, December 21. This year’s Keyboards at Christmas will be the eleventh presentation of what has become a highly anticipated bi-annual celebration of the season. Surrounded by the festive decor of the worship center, this instrumental presentation emanates from a stage packed with five grand pianos, an electronic keyboard, an organ, and, for some songs, a full array of handbells. A concert-style presentation utilizing six pianists at the same time is most unusual for any entertainment venue. One out-of-town visitor at the last Keyboards event was overheard saying, “We don’t have anything like this in Charlotte." This leads to the question, how did such an elaborate Christmas program originate in Kings Mountain? An answer is offered by Dr. Jonathan Bundon, Worship Pastor of First Baptist Church and the developer of the Kings Mountain Keyboards at Christmas series: “When I came to Kings Mountain 19 years ago, I was astounded at the amount of talent as well as humility that was in this church.” Bundon began building on that talent to form the current musical offerings of a full adult choir, multiple bands, and praise teams, as well as musical training for all ages. Bundon’s one-word mantra, “excellence,” led him to pull together some of the area’s leading pianists to develop this novel Christmas concert of multiple keyboards. The six pianists for this unusual program include Bundon, Michael Sisk, Traci
Aderholdt, Heather Bundon, Bethany Keller, and Sherry Thomas. This year will also feature three student pianists: Caleb Bundon, Grayson Howell, and Hayes Laney. Staging for this event is quite a task in itself. In addition to the church’s grand piano in the worship center, four other grand pianos must be secured from various locations, hauled to the church, loaded onto the stage, and arranged. Then each must be professionally tuned. Of course, after the presentation, those four must be removed and returned to their respective locations. Since such a presentation is not a normal part of a church’s programming, it’s fair to ask, why would the church go to such expense and effort? The church’s pastor, Dr. See KEYBOARDS, Page 4A
Pianists for Keyboards at Christmas: Seated, left to right: Heather Bundon and Jonathan Bundon; standing, left-toright: Bethany Keller, Traci Aderholdt, Sherry Thomas and Michael Sisk. (Photo provided)
Keyboards at Christmas will be held on Sunday, December 21 at 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. (Photos provided)
Enjoy the Christmas fun in downtown Shirley Brutko receives Kings Mountain SHIRLEY BRUTKO
2025 Trail Champion of the Year Award Carolina Thread Trail (CTT) was pleased to recognize Shirley Brutko, of Kings Mountain Gateway Trail as their 2025 Trail Champion of the Year Award. The award ceremony recently took place at CTT’s annual conference – Trail Forum, held in
Mooresville on December 4th. Carolina Thread Trail represents a vision for connecting a regional trail system throughout 15 counties in greater Charlotte, including both North and South Carolina. This legacy project when complete, will comprise over 1600 miles of trail. Today over 450 miles of trail are open to the public. Kings See BRUTKO, Page 5A
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Carriage rides will be available December 20 from 5:00-8:00 pm.
Patriots Park is all a glow with the sights and sounds of Christmas courtesy of Costner’s Christmas Lights Extravaganza. This amazing set of lights shine brightly in the Patriots Park and will do so until January 2nd. Bundle up and bring the kids. You will not be disappointed. Santa’s Workshop is open December 20 from 5:00-8:00 pm. (Photos by City of KM)
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