It’s a passing of the director’s baton.

And the way Chet Hansen sees it, the baton couldn’t be placed in more capable hands.

Hansen is stepping down as director and conductor of the Whidbey Community Chorus 15 years after he helped get the group off the ground.

A difficult decision was made easier for Hansen with the knowledge that he’s handing off the baton to Darren McCoy, the director of Oak Harbor High School’s award-winning choral program.

Hansen has been both friend and mentor to McCoy since he arrived in Oak Harbor from Salem, Ore., eight years ago.

“I love this guy,” Hansen said in McCoy’s company this week. “I’m so proud of what he’s done in Oak Harbor.

“I’m getting down to where I need to take time off to start taking care of my bucket list. The choir is in good shape. I think they’re ready to take off with a new guy, especially somebody like Darren with his energy and his history. I just get goosebumps thinking of his potential here.”

Hansen’s final concert directing the Whidbey Community Chorus is 4 p.m. Sunday at Oak Harbor’s First United Methodist Church, where he also serves as music director.

Admission to the concert is free.

It was only last Sunday that Hansen broke the news to his community group that this would be his last concert.

“There was this collective gasp,” said McCoy, who’s sung with the group off and on over the years. “He’s very well-loved. I admire that. He’s done it for a long time and everybody still likes him.”

What started out as six people from church at Hansen’s house toying with an idea to form a community choir in 2001 has grown to a group of nearly 80 current members that rehearse, perform and socialize together in preparation for two concerts a year.

There are members in their 20s and in their 80s, all interested in continuing their love of singing.

“I had no idea what the group would morph into,” Hansen said. “I figured it was going to be a group where we had the grand piano parked right here and we’d have about eight, 10, 12 singers gathered around me and we’d do a cappella things or piano -— a very small choir kind of thing. I was happy doing that.”

“I had no idea it would become what it is today.”

Since moving to Mount Vernon four years ago, Hansen has found the commute and Sunday evening rehearsals to be competing with family time, so he figured it was time for a change.

After this weekend, the group will take the summer off then resume under McCoy. The first rehearsal of the new season will be Sept. 18.

McCoy, 31, said he’s nervous, yet excited, about the opportunity to direct an adult choir for the first time.

He would like to try to challenge the group a little more, wants to aim for more participation outside of Oak Harbor and is seeking more male members.

Currently, the choral group is composed mostly of Oak Harbor residents and is about 70 percent women.

The group performs two concert weekends a year, holding performances in Oak Harbor and typically a South Whidbey venue. Rehearsals are in Oak Harbor at the First United Methodist Church.

“The community choir is an important part of this community,” McCoy said. It may not perform all the time and do huge functions all the time, but a town needs to have a community choir. It needs to have a playhouse. It needs to have a high school that participates in community music events. It just needs certain things. Whenever you move to a town, as a musician, it’s like, ‘OK, what’s the community choir like?’ If there isn’t one, you’re like, ‘Oh, that says a lot.’ I think while I am very busy, supporting the community arts means stepping up and taking leadership when it’s needed. Not just engaging the youth, but providing a place for adults to sing.”

McCoy understands that directing adults will be different.

For instance, he won’t snap his fingers four times to get their attention like he does with his high school students.

But he also doesn’t expect his adult choir to be passing notes.

“The difference between middle school and high school teaching is dramatic,” McCoy said, “but it is not as dramatic as the difference between high school and adult. They’re not there for credit. They’re not in it for just four years. Some of them have been in the group for 15 years. Some of these people have sung professionally before. Some of these people can’t read music. The diversity is greater. And the reason they’re there, though, this is the upside.”

“The reason that they’re there is that they love to sing and they want to sing.”

Hansen likes to tease McCoy, particularly when it comes to the subject of taking him under his wing.

“He’s right there in the age of my children, so I just continued the raising process once he got away from his home in Oregon,” Hansen said.

“We’ve been buddies ever since and making some pretty good music together.”

Hansen reminded McCoy that he noticed his recent social media post announcing the change in directors.

“Not wasting any time, that guy,” Hansen said.