By Dave Babbitt – Special to the Sydenham Current
I’ve been chronicling the history of the WDSS Christmas shows in recent weeks, and last time concentrated on the massive set-up tasks. This week I’d like to conclude by recognizing some of the many names that took part in the performances, and why they came to an end.
I maintain extensive and detailed files from each year of the shows, including planning notes, rehearsal notes, permits, press coverage, copies of the programs, and newsletters sent to participants. I think it important, however, to first explain how I approached our Christmas shows, and readers will instantly recognize how they could not happen in today’s climate.
Personally, I love all aspects of Christmas, including both the sacred and secular aspects, but felt it important to recognize the origins of the entire celebration, the birth of Christ. I don’t believe we preached at the crowd, as many do not share those beliefs, but I felt that it would be disingenuous not to recognize the root of the season.
In pouring over the programs, it is evident there were a few consistent elements every year. One of those elements was the inclusion of clergy in each show. For the most part, they served as leaders for a sing-along segment of popular Christmas carols. In looking at the programs, Reverends Steve Lawson (Trinity United), Grant Hick (Bethel Pentecostal), Hugh Appel (Knox Presbyterian), Brent Carter (Community Fellowship Baptist), Steven Seaboyer (Bethel Pentecostal), Irving Hale (Charlemont Free Methodist), and Richard Van Der Vaart (Wallaceburg Christian Reformed) all took part at some point, and a few multiple times.
Another common element every year was the inclusion of a handbell choir. Handbells are so unique and especially beautiful in playing Christmas music, and First Baptist Church had several different handbell groups, both adult and children’s groups, that took part every year. The choirs were led by either Barb Myers, Marva Babbey, or Peggy Main.
Of course, the entire program being presented by our WDSS music students included the school concert band and a wide variety of flute, clarinet, saxophone, and brass ensembles each year. We always attempted to include a school choir or two, and through the years programs included choirs from A.A. Wright, H.W. Burgess, W.T. Laing, and the Wallaceburg Christian School under the direction of legendary names such as Shirley Sewell, Barry Betts, and Allan Young. Most schools performed more than one year.
Every year also included an adult chorus of some kind. Sometimes they were established church choirs, sometimes a staff-student chorus from WDSS, and in later years the chorus included members from the general public, church choirs, WDSS staff members, and of course students. Those choral groups were directed and accompanied by the late, great David Mann.
A couple of years saw the inclusion of non-Wallaceburg choral groups such as the Kent Kordsmen (barbershop singers) and the Kent Glee Club, but I tended to stay with local entertainers.
Each show also included solo artists. I will give names as they appeared in the program. Participants included Charlton Carscallen, Patty Shaw, Bob Brush, Cathy Whale, Steven Seaboyer, Grant Hick, Shelly Hazzard, Brian Hazzard, Elin Sands, Bettina Mercer, Renee Lozon, Meighan Kilbride, Don Wilde, Cathy Landeryou, and Jessie Lehman.
Duet and trio performers included Julie Lehman and Carol Kerr; Kunle Oluwojure; Carolyn Cornish; Janice Smith and Cathy Langstaff as “One Voice”; and the trio of Steven Seaboyer, Ruth Juryn, and Claudette Sinclair. Local band The Weekenders took part one year, as did Midnight Mojo, the Brass Factory Big Band, and a synthesizer duet by keyboard wizards Matt and Mark Thibideau.
There were a few one-time unique elements, such as a dance routine by “toy soldiers” to the commonly heard “March of the Toy Soldiers,” choreographed by Meighan Lung, and one year the WDSS Drama Department added a dramatic element to the show.
Another common element near the end of every program was the reading of what many refer to as “the Christmas Story” from the King James version of the Bible. Some years I read it myself, while in other years the reading was made by young people such as Bryan Parsons, Bryan Fisher, or Alyssa Horrobin. Most years I concluded the program by playing “O Holy Night” on my trumpet.
The initial run of seven shows was between 1985 and 1991. At that point, the programs had grown so large that I was burned out and decided to put them to bed.
Fast-forward eight years, and in 1999 I was approached by WDSS Tech Department director Alan Pray, who said, and I quote, “Hey Babbitt, why don’t you do that ‘Christmas thing’ again? I’ll put the entire Tech Department behind it, and we’ll help with whatever you need.”
If you know Al Pray, he’s not big on “artistic things,” but he recognized how much those programs did for both our school and community. I thought about it for five minutes and decided to resurrect the shows, but I didn’t want to start over. I wanted to pick up from where we left off, a daunting goal.
I contacted Lynn McCreary, Dave Ardis, and several other former students, and we started planning, knowing that we’d need to sell the concept to the current students who hadn’t experienced the previous shows. The administration, the staff, and former students were all incredibly supportive, and we presented the first of the “new” shows in 1999.
Once they figured out what was happening, the current students were just as eager to jump on board, and we had a successful run of shows in 1999 and 2000. But it only took two years for me to get burned out again. At that point, I decided that we would present the shows on an every-other-year schedule, and the 2002 Christmas show was the pinnacle of the 10 years of shows.
Titled A Hometown Christmas, the performers were spectacular, and Mike Primeau, a former student and video editor for the CBC, returned to Wallaceburg in the fall of 2002 and produced six video segments of past Christmas traditions unique to our area. The segments included interviews with several Wallaceburg movers and shakers, several of whom have now passed away, leaving important historical perspectives of another era behind.
The segments included the Wallaceburg Santa Claus Parade, the Bethel Pentecostal “Living Christmas Tree” shows that attracted busloads and busloads of visitors to Wallaceburg, “Lighting Up the Christmas Season,” the K.A.R.E. Tree, the Rotary Community Carol Sing, and the Lawrence Nativity Scene.
I’ve digitized these segments and have made these priceless historical artifacts available to everyone on my personal YouTube channel. I’m so grateful that Mike captured those moments of Wallaceburg’s “Christmas past.”
The next show was scheduled to take place in 2004, but it wasn’t to be. New administration was in place at the school, and I was informed that I would no longer be able to use the lift needed for all of the aerial work that I described in my previous column. I offered to become trained and licensed to operate the lift but was denied.
At that point, I was unwilling to compromise on the production values of our now legendary shows. I took my bat and went home. The Christmas show never happened again.
The last remaining elements still inhabiting WDSS that we had built for our elaborate displays were tossed in a dumpster just a couple of months ago. It was the “Policy and Procedure Manual” that killed the Christmas show at the time, but it would have died eventually anyway, because I would not have compromised on my inclusion of the reading of the Christmas Story.
We now live in an era that would never allow that.
Most of all, I will always miss how these shows brought Wallaceburg together like nothing else in my lifetime, making WDSS the hub of the community. Unless you were there, you wouldn’t understand.
