Union Presbyterian Church (UPC) is adding a little extra flair to its annual patriotic organ concert this summer.

Always a big event at the church, located at 5637 Street Road, Kirkwood, the concert carries extra weight this year with the widespread celebration of America's 250th birthday.

"It's a little bit special this year," said Martin Greenleaf, a member of the church's ministry of music. "(The concert) isn't very religiously oriented. It's more toward patriotic items."

The show will take place on Sunday, July 5, at 6:30 p.m., one day after the Fourth of July. The concert is free to attend, but a freewill offering will be accepted to benefit Solanco community organizations.

The organist will be Bob Trimble, a renowned local organist who performs two shows at Union Presbyterian annually - the summer patriotic concert and the Christmas organ concert, held in December. Trimble will be assisted by Rick Rineer and Glenn Hough, two other local organists.

Greenleaf said that Trimble's organ shows usually draw between 90 and 200 people, ranging from locals to people from out of state.

"He plays patriotic songs, pop songs and classical show tunes," he said. "There's even some songs where he asks people to sing along."

The big difference between Union Presbyterian and other organ concert venues is the church's rare, restored 90-year-old United States Pipe Organ Company theater organ.

Greenleaf explained that the organ originally belonged to a theater company in New Jersey that defaulted on its payments following silent movies falling out of favor with the public. The organ company repossessed the organ, and it was then sold to somebody within UPC's congregation, who later gifted it to the church.

"Our organ is very different than most church organs," Greenleaf said. "It's so different sounding than a typical church organ, and that's why people really enjoy hearing it in something like these concerts."

The organ has been rebuilt many times over the years to help retain its quality. UPC has been operating the twice-annual organ concerts for about a decade, starting around when the church celebrated its 200th anniversary.

Greenleaf said that a quarter of attendees at the summer concert are typically retired members of the armed forces.

"One of the things (Trimble) does, he has a medley that has the theme song from the Army, Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard and all that," Greenleaf said. "This medley plays each of those songs, the theme songs of that service. When your song is played, he asks the people that were in the Army to stand up, and so forth."

There will be treats and fellowship following the concert. The church is air-conditioned and handicapped-accessible.

UPC's congregation meets at 10 a.m. on Sundays. Two adult Sunday school classes and a children's Sunday school class (K-5) are also available, meeting at 9 a.m. on Sundays.