German Liederkranz, Annual Summer Night Festival: 1st

The ladies of the society will mark the occasion with a gift of the new flag of the society.” 

The new flag of the German Liederkranz was inaugurated on June, 20^th at the Belvedere Park. A picture of it is on this page. [a detailed description follows]

Long article on the Liederkranz meeting at which William Steinway was given a silk banner for the society’s twentieth anniversary. Steinway gave a speech, which was followed by dancing. “Then rose again the inspiring strains of the orchestra, and the immense assemblage resolved itself into a shifting kaleidoscope of whirling couples, and the moon, which peeped the lines of variegated lanterns about this time, looked down on a sea of rippling tresses flecked with the mist of tuile, sparkling eyes, waving opera cloaks and gleam of jewels. The dreamy languor of the waltz, polka and the sociable of the lancers` or quadrille are no novel sensations to the Germans, and are as indispensable to him or her as the breath of life itself. Everything passed off quietly and pleasantly—as when was it otherwise with a German festival? When the stars left the clear firmament and the mist of the low grounds near the Park began to rise, and the morning dawn stole in on the gay scene, blotting out the glare of the gas jets, and milk and country wagons rattled outside on the avenue, the half sleepy drivers gazing with a bewildered air at the unusual scene above them, then, and not until then, the Liederkranz folded their tents (or for tents read overcoats and shawls) and stole silently and drowsily away.”   

The event attracted a large audience. One hour after sunset all the rooms including the large dance hall (out-doors) were completly filled. (…) A letter from the Philadelphia Sängerbund did not reach the festival in time to be read publicly. The message congratulates the Liederkranz to the new flag. Mendelssohn’s Hymn was performed after the flag was inaugurated followed by cannon thunder and fireworks.