A250 Encore in Evans City: Borough holds patriotic sing-along, trivia
While the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing may have passed, Evans City was not willing to let it go without an encore.
Evans City Mayor Dean Zinkhann, the borough and the Evans City Historical Society organized “A Voice for Liberty: America Sing-along” Sunday afternoon, July 5, at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.
The event was originally set at the Evans City Cemetery but was moved due to a high chance of rain, but that did not deter a few dozen people from sitting in the church’s pews, singing along and answering trivia questions.
The event featured numerous performances, including from the Waldo Young Band and Four’s Company Barbershop Quartet, all focused around patriotic music such as John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.”
Performances were separated by Zinkhann’s patriotic trivia, where questions varied from “who shot Abraham Lincoln” to “what mountain system is Mount Rushmore in.” While many questions were answered immediately, some challenged the crowd and were even left unanswered.
Waldo Young and Melanie Rodgers, two members of the Waldo Young Band, said they decided to perform both as a way of honoring the nation while also helping build community in a small town like Evans City.
“(Being in Evans City) scratches an itch I didn’t even know I had,” she said.
Rodgers said she’s played violin her entire life, mostly in classical orchestra and the Butler County Symphony Orchestra. She said events like this give her an opportunity to play something different and have fun while doing it.
Natalie Ripper Price, president of Evans City Historical Society, and Joyce Beahm, vice president, said the event was originally conceptualized by Zinkhann after the county called on municipalities to host their own Independence Day events.
“It fell outside of the Fourth of July, but we were still anxious to plan it and have something in our town,” Beahm said.
The two said events like this one serve to unite the Evans City community while also giving the society an outlet to share that community’s history. Attendees of the sing-along were given a page on the history of the borough and surrounding area, primarily focused on the 1700s.
“They’re the ones that are going to carry it on for the next generation,” Price said. “We’re constantly working to get people to come over and see what we have.”
