Waldheim Park is one of Lehigh Valley\u2019s undiscovered gems.<\/p>\n
The Waldheim Tabernacle, a magnificent wooden amphitheater that can accommodate 800, is at the park\u2019s center, surrounded by some 80 cottages on the tree-shrouded 50 acres in a niche of Salisbury Township.<\/p>\n
Waldheim Park, founded in 1904 by the Evangelical Congregational Church, is not really visible from West Emaus Avenue.<\/p>\n
After you guide your vehicle onto South Hall Street and up the gradual northern slope of South Mountain, it\u2019s like traveling back in time to camp meetings and spirited Christian worship services.<\/p>\n
That was the setting Aug. 11 for the 107th concert by The Allentown Band, presented by The Evangelical Congregational Waldheim Association.<\/p>\n
Allentown Band Conductor Ronald Demkee led the program, \u201cCelebrating America250,\u201d with guest vocalist Chet Brown.<\/p>\n
If my arithmetic is accurate, the first Allentown Band concert in Waldheim Park would have been in 1919.<\/p>\n
– The 18th Amendment, banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol and setting the stage for Prohibition, was passed in January 1919.<\/p>\n
– The Boston Molasses Disaster, when a wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank swept through Boston, killing 21 and injuring 150, happened in January 1919.<\/p>\n
The 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was passed in June 1919.<\/p>\n
– \u201cThe Algonquin Round Table,\u201d a group of writers, critics, actors and wits led by Alexander Woollcott, first met in June 1919 at the Algonquin Hotel, New York City.<\/p>\n
– Felix the Cat appeared in \u201cFeline Follies\u201d at the cinema, making him the first cartoon character, in November 1919.<\/p>\n
And the Allentown Band played its first concert in Waldheim Park, most likely in summer 1919.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s band concert in Waldheim was billed as \u201cpopular music from the Revolutionary War era to the present.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Allentown Band didn\u2019t disappoint, playing not one but two versions of \u201cYankee Doodle,\u201d as well as the \u201cShenandoah American Folk Song,\u201d \u201cSecond Connecticut March\u201d \u201cStar Spangled Spectacular WWI\u201d by George M. Cohan and \u201cBullets and Bayonets\u201d by John Philip Sousa.<\/p>\n
The band\u2019s powerful blasts of brass, woodwinds and percussion made one want to get up and march around the tabernacle.<\/p>\n
Demkee, in introducing Chet Brown, said, \u201cHe\u2019s practically a member of the band because he has performed with us so frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cHarold Arlen Medley\u201d sung by Brown included the composer\u2019s \u201cAc-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve Got the World on a String,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Only a Paper Moon,\u201d \u201cStormy Weather,\u201d and \u201cMy Shining Hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Allentown Band, responding to the energetic vocals by Brown, swung like a big band from \u201cThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.\u201d<\/p>\n
After an audience-participation hymn sing, the band continued with \u201cThe Homefront: Musical Memories WWII.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown returned to sing the Ken Moyer arrangements of \u201dNeil Diamond\u2019s America\u201d and \u201cFreedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
The approximate one and one-half-hour concert concluded, as always with The Allentown Band\u2019s terrific rendition of \u201cStars and Stripes Forever\u201d by John Philip Sousa.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s hoping for the Allentown Band\u2019s 108h concert next August in Waldheim Park.<\/p>\n
Waldheim Park information: https:\/\/www.waldheimpark.org\/https:\/\/www.waldheimpark.org ; 610-451-6818<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY SHERI BAYNEThe Allentown Band, Conductor Ronald Demkee, \u201cCelebrating America 250\u201d concert, Waldheim Park.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY SHERI BAYNEChet Brown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waldheim Park is one of Lehigh Valley\u2019s undiscovered gems. The Waldheim Tabernacle, a magnificent wooden amphitheater that can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-283634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}