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Sikeston church choir sings at Busch Stadium
Every Sunday church choirs stand in front of their congregations and sing hymns, but one local church choir took their singing to a different venue.
On Saturday, June 26, the Tanner Street Church of God choir joined with a choir from Vincennes, Indiana, and sang “God Bless America” in front of 33,058 people before a St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium.
“Singing at Busch Stadium is a lot of fund and quite a privilege,” said Rev. Georg Karl of Tanner Street.
There were 77 ticket holders from Tanner Street who went to the game with 28 of those singing in the choir, with two individuals from the First Baptist Church in Sikeston. The Tanner Street choir combined their voices with the First Church of God from Vincennes, which was Karl’s former church, to make up about 60 voices.
Tanner Street had four rehearsals in Sikeston prior to game day and the Vincennes group did the same, however, the large group had not performed together before meeting up just a short time before performing.
“The neat thing was we were joined with another choir and we had never sang together,” said Rod Anderson, who was part of the Tanner Street choir. “We sounded really good from the video.”
Before performing, the two groups met up in a tunnel below Busch Stadium to rehearse before finally coming out on the field and seeing the large crowd. Because of how quick everything went, Anderson said they weren’t nervous singing in front of the large crowd.
“We didn’t have time,” Anderson said. “We practiced a couple times in the tunnel and then went out on the field and performed. It happened really fast.”
The performance drew compliments from many in attendance, including a loud cheer when the song concluded.
“Our director, Bryan Quarterman of Vincennes affirmed that we sang well, but the cheering and applauding certainly affirmed that,” Karl said. “Then, after we made our way to our seats in ‘Big Mac Land,’ the many others from our church lauded their compliments on us. However, the greatest joy was simply that we were able to be a part of such a presentation and that a choir of that size is a unique experience for Busch Stadium.”
Karl said the interesting part of the day was the fact that they didn’t lose anybody.
“We drove up in several vehicles separately, and all had to find our way to Gate 1, and then we had to stand inside that gate among that busy and shifting mass of people, and not get lost in the crowd,” Karl said. “When the representatives told us it was time to head into the tunnel, I wondered how many might have already melded into that massive, moving crowd of Cardinal fans, and a few Pirate fans, inside Busch Stadium. Not a single singer was lost and I thought that was a minor miracle.”
Anderson said while there was a lot of moving parts, everything went like clockwork.
“I was impressed with the professionalism of the staff from the getting the tickets all the way down,” Anderson said. “Nothing was stressful. Everything went smooth.”
It may not be the last time the groups perform at Busch Stadium either as the staff already indicated interest in having them back to Quarterman.
“It would be fun to go back,” said Karl.