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Friday Gospel Concert Raises Museum Funds
Riverbank Museum
A Friday night benefit concert June 30 at the Riverbank Community Center will feature former Riverbank resident Herb Henry and his family, with additional special musical guests, in a patriotic and gospel-inspired performance that will serve as a fundraiser for the Riverbank Historical Museum. News File Photo

A renowned pastor and his gospel singing family will return to their local roots when they host a fundraising concert at the Riverbank Community Center on Friday.

Riverbank native, gospel singer, broadcaster and ordained minister Herb Henry will be bringing his patriotic, popular ... and award-winning gospel music back to the town he grew up in. Henry participated in a Memories Day presentation at the Historical Museum in 2013, and participated in similar presentation, about local grocers, last April.

He grew up in Riverbank, with his father operating the Henry Market on Terminal Avenue into the 1980s.

The concert on Friday is being held as a fundraiser for the Riverbank Historical Society’s Museum Annex and Cultural Center construction project. Since it will be held on the first day of a long Fourth of July holiday weekend, Henry plans to present patriotic and popular music as well as gospel favorites.

Luckily, parking around the center shouldn’t be a problem that night, organizers said, because the Friday Farmers Market is not being held this week.

After graduating from Oakdale High School in 1964, Henry attended Stanislaus State University, graduating in 1969 with a degree in Business. He traveled, sang and played piano with a southern gospel group and served as a Minister of Music in churches in both Texas and in California. He was ordained in 1979. In 1986, he became the pastor of Richland Faith Assembly of God, where he continues to serve today. That same year, he established his family singing group, the Herb Henry Family.

The Herb Henry Family of Modesto has come to be recognized as California’s “First Family of Gospel Music.” Also appearing on Friday’s bill will be the Gage Family, known as outstanding instrumentalists and vocalists.

Tickets will be available at the door, but can also be purchased online, at www.riverbankhistoricmuseum.com.

The Riverbank Historical Museum is at 3237 Santa Fe St., in the former Carnegie Library, which was opened in 1922. In 1996, the library operation was moved the Stanislaus County Library Branch at the corner of Santa Fe and Fifth Street, near Cardozo Elementary School. The museum is staffed by volunteers from the Historical Society, open on Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 a.m. to noon, and on Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.