It's Always an Illuminating Experience: A Grand Night of
Glowing Lanterns
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2004/08/20/content/raymond_young_sm.jpg"By C.K. WOLFSON
You come back every year because the charm of the spectacle is so
complete; because you and the more than 10,000 people gently milling
around you, in slow motion and awestruck, are reliably transformed into
small town neighbors; and because homeowners invite passing strangers to
sit on their porches. You come because for 135 years, Illumination Night
has been a quintessential Island summer event - and because it is
a moment of innocence that recalls a simpler world.
Wednesday night Trinity Park was dressed in twirling blue, green and
pink glow sticks, and bulging with people for whom every year is the
first time all over again - shoulders bumping, reunions,
strollers, picnics at every step. The Tabernacle was filled to overflow,
people finding perches and floor space and rimming the
Tabernacle's circumference three deep.
Bob Cleasby, red carnation, red pants, stood in the spotlight behind
lush arrangements of lilies, snapdragons, sunflowers and baby's
breath, conducting the sing along, arms waving, his entire body swaying
in time - For Me and My Gal; In the Good Old Summer Time; East
Side, West Side - and everybody sang the patriotic melodies and
old time favorites with gusto.
The crowd cheered for 86-year-old Raymond Young, a former
professional classical pianist who announced his retirement after 11
years of accompanying the Wednesday sing-alongs. "A wonderful
experience," he commented. A cottager since 1969, he added,
"It just gives you a feeling of belonging."
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2004/08/20/content/illum_comm_sing_sm.jpg" Cottages with names like Absolute Heaven, Haven Cottage and Respite
were festooned with scores of all manner of paper parasols, lanterns,
stencil-cut luminaries and gardens in full regalia.
"Have you eaten?" Suzanne Avery asked. The Avery family,
in a smiling reunion of more than a dozen members, was finishing dinner,
but paused to invite passersby inside to view their 160-year-old
lacquered wood and paper Japanese lantern. Her husband Dick explained
their house used to belong to Rev. Mosley, and the family has been
convening there for close to 50 years.
Next door, Wayne and Suzanne Berger's house was being tended
by friends and family in their absence, with instructions, said a
laughing Eddie Berger, "not to nail anything, and to try and be
nice."
John and Nancy Goldthwait's house ("It used to belong to
the Amazeens") held close to 40 for their traditional dinner party
- "Happy to feed you."
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2004/08/20/content/illum_jim_hansen_sm.jpg" Assistant Oak Bluffs fire chief James Moreis Sr. stood next to
Engine 523, happily surrounded by children, grandchildren and
great-grandchildren, greeting strollers. Firefighter/paramedic John
Shannon and firefighter Asa Vought were handling the briskly selling
T-shirts whose sales help pay for Friday's fireworks display.
On the porch of the Camp Meeting Association, Bob Faulkenberg, in
his traditional "Vicious Fishes" pink and blue pants and a
flashing LED earring, along with a group of busy volunteers, was being
confronted by a swarm of shoppers.
And people sang - young and old, at the top of their voices.
When the Saints Go Marching In. They mimed the missing lyrics to the
Swiss Army song and John Brown's Body. They sang a
fill-in-the-name Happy Birthday, and then made Michael, Row Your Boat
Ashore sound like a love song.
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2004/08/20/content/illum_girls_sm.jpg" The Vineyard Haven Band, in crisp white and navy, under William
Eriksen's direction, perfected their program, skilled enough to
appear as if they were enjoying the occasion as much as those watching.
Trombonist Bill Aitken flirted with his grandchildren from the stage,
and knee-high children held hands as they tiptoed to the edge of the
stage for closer looks.
Russell Dagnall, president of the Camp Meeting Association,
introduced the night's honorees, Jim and Louise Hansen, cottagers
for close to 40 years, who ran the Junior Camp Meeting, and have had a
long involvement with various Camp Ground committees. They are selling
the cottage, which they bought in 1962, and moving to Vermont.
Mrs. Hansen spoke of "taking the next step," and
"welcoming new experiences," adding, "Memories of this
place will sustain us forever." After paying tribute to his wife
of close to 60 years, and reminiscing a bit, Mr. Hansen said,
"This has been a wonderful part of our lives."
They lit the candle in the lantern that Peter Dawley, in his last
year as grounds superintendent, slowly carried down the aisle, and hung
as a signal to illuminate the Camp Grounds. After a brief hesitation,
thousands of paper lanterns cast dots of multicolored light from the
roofs, balconies and porches.
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2004/08/20/content/illum_hetheringtons_sm.jpg" The band played on, marches, show tunes and finally Stars and
Stripes Forever, as the Camp Ground promenade began.
Peter Bannon, a publisher from Illinois, standing on his walk in
front of Bannon Haven, watched the throngs of people pass, ready to
greet and talk to anyone interested. "It's one of the most
incredible nights of the year," he exclaimed. He and his wife,
Amy, bought the cottage three years ago from Mrs. Maitland, and
decorated it with the lanterns that were included.
You could buy a glass of lemonade for 25 cents from the stand the
Roberts and Carey children set up along a side street. Members of
Vineyard Sound offered an impromptu concert, and from his porch Michael
Mitchell conducted a rousing game of Camp Ground Trivia with the crowd
that gathered: How many cottages have been moved off campus? What was
the Crystal Palace? Where was the first Love Fest, San Francisco or Oak
Bluffs?
SRC="http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2004/08/20/content/illum_house_sm.jpg" It was 10:30 before the crowd began thinning out. Enough time to
have slowly circled the streets, talked to strangers and meet people you
knew, to watch babies and toddlers react to the display of tangible
magic, and pledge to return again, for the first time, next year.
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