WILMINGTON – Most baseball games don’t begin until the national anthem is sung, and at the Wilmington Blue Rocks game on July 18, that honor belonged to a combined choir from the Downtown Catholic Churches.
The St. Peter’s Cathedral Adult Choir and the adult and children’s choirs from St. Patrick’s Church teamed up to perform the Star Spangled Banner on the field behind home plate at Frawley Stadium for the second consecutive season. About two dozen members, under the direction of Dana Brehany of St. Patrick’s) and Michael Davidson (St. Peter’s) got things started on a humid sunny evening.
They were playing to a large crowd at Frawley, where the Blue Rocks hosted the Aberdeen Ironbirds. It was Christmas in July, and there were postgame fireworks.
Father Joseph McQuaide, the pastor of the downtown parish, said the churches have spent a night at a Blue Rocks game for the past several years. Last year, a team staff member asked if they had a choir that would like to perform, “and here we are,” he said.
One of the singers was 9-year-old Gianna Dzielak, a member of the children’s choir at St. Patrick’s. She said she has been singing with the choir for about three years and wasn’t nervous “because I’ve done it multiple times.”
“I just came here to sing, and I was really happy,” Gianna said.
After the anthem, the choir headed up to a luxury box overlooking the field, where dinner – and air-conditioning – awaited. Father McQuaide said more than 100 members of the downtown parish, which also includes St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church, enjoyed the hospitality.
“It’s a nice way for people from the three churches to get to know one another and spend time with one another,” he said.
Perhaps the only negative about the evening was the final score. Aberdeen downed Wilmington, 3-1.
Photos by Mike Lang.
