Church & marching bands: fading to twilight?

Two institutions that were strong when I was in high school were, our mainstream churches and marching band. On Sunday we saw a page 1 article in the Star Tribune about the steady decline of mainstream churches. The Strib writer used the term "mainline." I have been skeptical of using "mainline" as a synonym for "mainstream." I associate "mainline" with drug use - injecting a drug into a principal vein. Maybe this is one of those words that is evolving through usage.
Our language is indeed fluid. "Mainline" as used in the Strib piece probably comes to mind subconsciously as an approximation of "mainstream." People can follow their impulse with words, as when we hear someone say "I could care less." Technically it is supposed to be "couldn't care less." Put on your thinking cap about this. Radio host Mark Levin said "could care less" on his show one day and was promptly upbraided by a caller, to which Levin bristled.
We're gradually shrugging our shoulders about "mainline" and "could care less."
Shall I assume that Hancock had its marching band in the July 4 celebration? I observed it through the years when I covered July 4 for the Morris newspaper. I was impressed with how Ken Grunig groomed this group for its appearance. I also freely shared the suggestion that Grunig bring this group over to Morris for our Prairie Pioneer Days. I often got the response that too many of the kids would be "gone." It's midsummer after all, and while these kids would feel enough civic zeal to be there for their own parade, a parade eight miles away in Morris, in "alien territory" I guess, would be a no-go.
When I hear these excuses about people being "out of town" I'm often skeptical. Do people really hop in their vehicle and take off from their homes so often? Sometimes I think people just don't want to be bothered by certain commitments. I'd be nervous if I were gone from our residence for an extended time. I'd want to check the mail daily and in general just keep an eye on the property.
When I wrote sports in summer for the Morris and Hancock papers, I'd have to be aware of certain coaches who might be at the lake. A Benson-Hancock Legion coach had to be gone occasionally for his National Guard commitment. That coach, last name of Mills, was interesting to work with because he was on the ground floor with electronic communications. I learned this when I discovered his phone line to be busy for extended periods of time. "My modem was on," he'd tell me later.
Eventually using the phone became problematic because some people set up answering machines in such a way they couldn't be counted on to answer their phone. This caused some hair-pulling on my part for a while. It took me a while to get used to it. My old systems for collecting sports information, as it turned out, were going to be antiquated in many ways. It wasn't unusual for me to go to a coach's home, not just to gather info but maybe get kids identified in a photo. Over time I sensed there was a change in prevailing attitudes about this, less willingness to allow outsiders, even obviously friendly ones, onto your property.
The town team baseball coach in Benson told me he decided to have an unlisted phone number because "a picture of our house turned up on the Internet," inexplicably I guess.
As time passed, I think an understanding set in that coaches would have the responsibility fall on them more directly, to get info to the media if they wanted to see coverage. Some coaches were coverage-conscious and others not so much. I have been absent from the corporate media for 12 years. I can't be sure how it's all going now. But we do know: the Hancock Record is no more. I hope the Hancock community remembers all I did on their behalf, writing about their youth, for years and years.
Papers are consolidating and closing. Recently we heard about about the Raymond/Prinsburg paper shuttering. My immediate thought was that I wondered if the new tariff wars, which have caused the price of newsprint to go up, is the reason.
We shouldn't care because we have the Internet, right? But I'm not sure youth sports has done nearly enough to establish its coverage online. Instead I have seen only "baby steps." Maybe the broad public doesn't care. But maybe with time we'll see a true migration of high school sports coverage to online. Everything is changing all the time.
What about church? Whether you call them "mainstream" or "mainline" denominations, I do not sense a lot of hope, frankly. I have to wonder how much longer Morris can sustain two ELCA Lutheran churches in town. Some people were concerned when Faith Lutheran chose to build new. Faith Lutheran would have to be the winner if there were consolidation of the two churches now, because of the obvious handicapped accessibility issues presented by First. The issue can obviously get emotional.
It was against my basic nature to go to church for many years. I'm 63 years old which puts me at the heart of the boomer generation. Our parents brought us to church when we were kids but we became skeptical when we got old enough to make our own decisions. I am attending church once again at First Lutheran, the one with all the steps. My future at that church has been determined: my late mother would want me to go there, even when the experience is basically ruined by loud, unruly infants at the Sunday services. I just sit there looking devout.
So much about the experience seems outdated. The offering plates bother me - can't we just make periodic contributions some other way? Well, I do. We look up to the pastor as if he's such a wise guru. This system developed in the days when the pastor might be one of the most educated people around. That's no more. We are annoyed by "evangelicals" around us who seem more interested in politics, kissing the ring of Donald Trump, than in their faith. But as a boomer I must withdraw from my normal instincts of being so analytical. Just go to church, man.
Marching band has a glorious chapter of history in Morris. We hear the name of Bob Schaefer talked up so much. Hardly anyone mentions John Woell. And yet I think Woell kept standards just as high. This lasted until societal pressures built up, with kids getting more diverse interests (including sports camps), and band became too tough a sell. But I was in our marching band ranks during its last grand chapter, when we went to Winnipeg and other places.
A few marching bands are still out there. The Irondale band is coming back to Morris for its annual intensive summer camp session. Unfortunately their public performance will be on the same night as Horticulture Night, according to what I've been told. Man, Morris can be such a slow and lazy time in summer, and now we have two big events on the same night. Everyone at Horticulture Night will be able to clearly hear the band sounds.
I'll give you the heads-up that Irondale is not your father's marching band (in other words, not my marching band). It's quite avant garde but it's wonderfully entertaining. They'll perform at Big Cat Stadium in the most special event to be held there, IMHO. We as a society must eradicate football. We should all be praying for fewer boys going out for football this fall. Let's take care of our kids' health.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com