Song on the Fourth of July

I don't know of a single soul who does not love the Fourth of July with its picnics, patriotic music, parades, and spectacular fireworks. It's just a “feel-good” celebration, isn't it?

One of those celebrations was at our church. We always had a patriotic extravaganza the Sunday before the “Fourth” with a concert followed by a church-wide lunch of good ole hot dogs, hamburgers and all the fixins.

In 1968, this particular time, we decided we would do things a little differently. So, with the help of many people, the production “This Is My Country” was born. Written, rehearsed, performed at the (at that time, “new “) Gaillard Auditorium, it was quite a production. We had taken the production outside the walls of the church into the community—something that had not been done in the Charleston area. The result was amazing with a lot of positive feedback. It was the first time the Gaillard Auditorium had been packed to capacity.

Fast forward 20 years.

Having such fond memories of the 1968 program, it was decided to reprise “This Is My Country.” Easier said than done, right? We tossed around all the pros and cons of “why we should... why we shouldn't” and the ”shoulds” won.

We were really that crazy? Yes, we were!

It was going to be hard work. Rules and regulations were quite different than in ‘68 so we had many new hoops to jump through and a list of things that we needed to accomplish was endless.

Hopefully, our location for this event was available for the dates that we needed.

Money? We needed a lot of that, but how do we raise it?

We needed a great staff dedicated to basically giving up a year-and-a-half of their time to work on a show.

We needed a board of directors, orchestra, choir, actors, costumers, set designers, prop builders, dance instructors, lighting designers, etc., etc., etc....

Well... surprise, surprise...

Before we knew it, we had our staff, our board, our money... And all had to be very dependable and dedicated. They all had to be. We couldn't afford a weak link in the chain.

For almost two years we had numerous weekly meetings, auditions for instrumentalists and vocalists, wrote and rewrote scripts (thank you, David), gathered sponsors, designed and constructed sets and costumes, rehearsed, rehearsed and rehearsed. We were very fortunate to have some of the best talent Charleston had to offer to help make their performances a success. And a success it was!

For two nights we packed the Gaillard Auditorium with standing room only.

Performance night and our fearless leader, John Hutto, was in his element as he directed the 80-voice choir. Our orchestra, directed by Herb Day and Ashley Gardner, was superb as was the dance troupe directed by Bob Ivey. The color guard, the Washington Light Infantry, the actors, the guest choirs all had such wonderful attitudes. It was a privilege to be associated with all of those wonderful, giving, talented, performers. And a great honor to be the co-producer, alongside John Hutto, for this production.

We have many opportunities each Fourth of July to view fabulous fireworks (live or on TV). We can tune-in to spectacular performances across our nation with all the best talent money can buy. But, none of these can compare to all the joy and love that we ALL felt having accomplished a production of this magnitude in our beautiful city of Charleston. This was our gift to our church and our community on the 4th of July as we all celebrated our Independence Day..

We hope and pray that you all have a safe, happy, and healthy 4th.

And, GOD BLESS THE USA!

~ Jeannie Joyner