By Julie Johansen
The Huntington Glee Club was organized in 1919 and celebrated its 100 years of singing by doing just that: singing. In those 100 years, members have sang at over 80 funerals, 100 sacrament meetings and 100 other special occasions.
In 1991, Lund Leonard, Huntington City’s Mayor, decided that Huntington needed to have a special celebration for the Fourth of July, so Huntington Heritage Days began. That same year, the Huntington Glee Club sang as part of the celebration and have continued to do so for almost 30 years.
To commemorate those many years, a program provided by the Huntington Glee Club to begin the Heritage Days 2019 celebration included many choral pieces from their repertoire over the years. One number, “The Old Home Town,” was written and composed the same year the club was organized in 1919. Other selections included “Stouthearted Men,” “Home On the Range,” “De Animals a-Comin” and “Tumbling Tumble Weeds.”
Patriotic selections included “Your Land and My Land,” “Give Me Your Tired and Your Poor,” “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “ God Bless America” and “A Military Medley” arranged by conductor Bryce Wilson. Conductor Wilson recalled the many who had served in the Glee Club and gave a brief history of the organization as a start to a patriotic week.