MCB 25th Anniversary Reunion Social Event

The Friday night before the social, the final dry run took place in the Washington DC Stake Center cultural hall.  Hundreds of photos meticulously printed on 8-1/2" x 11" paper were strewn in columnar form across the cultural hall floor.  It was rumored that it took the bulk of a work week just to print out the over 300 photos.  Two teams of 4 retrieved the photos in order and passed it to the person who stapled the photos to the bulletin board.  At the same time, the audio visual equipment was being set up and tested.  In addition, the lion dance and the dragon dance teams practiced tonight.

After the temple activity on Saturday, the action turned quickly back to the stake center to set up for the social event.  The Elders Quorum expeditiously set up the tables and chairs on the two ends of the cultural hall, leaving the center quarter section open for the program.  Folks were busy with decorations and food and equipment setup.

At 6pm, President Charles Huang welcomed all to the social event.  After the blessing on the food, all of the participants enjoyed the food prepared.

Adam and Sophy Fugal served as the emcees for the evening.  At 7pm, the Dragon Dance debuted with 1 head (Caleb Wertz) leading 11 dancers (Jack Shirts, Andy Huang & friend, Audri, Elder Anderson, Elder Shih, Emily Lim, Josh Tsai, Chloe Ith, Amanda Huang, John Lim), accompanied by Joseph Cunningham on the drums.

Next, two special guests who were pioneers in the early branch were invited to share how the branch started.  The first speaker was Ralph Hardy, who as stake president of the Washington DC Stake in April 1992 organized the Montgomery Chinese Branch.  The second speaker was Bowei Zhu, who served as Branch clerk and also counselor to President Sid Foulger.

Then Harvey Droke, assistant director of the Washington DC Temple Orchestra composed two songs especially for the occasion: “Chinese Zodiac” & “Journey to the West”  He also conducted the orchestra tonight: Audrey Chang (violin), Sara Ann Cox (cello), Harvey Droke (sitar), Clarissa Lindsay (percussion), Meimei Lu (violin), Elizabeth Mansfield (violin), Gretchen Rydin (viola), Clayton Zhao (violin), and Ellen (guzheng).

As a tradition in our branch, the lion dance has been featured for over ten years in past Chinese New Year celebrations and reunion parties.  The four lion dancers (Elder Anderson, Elder Shih, John Lim, Jack Shirts) danced to the music led by Joseph Cunningham on the drums and Joshua Tsai and Amanda Huang on the cymbals.

Five young Primary girls (Celeste Bates, Joanna Fugal, Michelle Zheng) danced the xxx.

As a finale, the Branch Choir conducted by Li-Fang Tsai and accompanied by Richard Huang sang "Old Irish Blessing."