The Great Lakes Tour — Spring 2003
by Katie Hakenewerth ('03)

Notre Dame ... Terra Haute ... Owensboro ... Dayton ... Sandusky ... Buffalo ... Cleveland ... Columbus ... Detroit ... Toledo ... Monroe ... Notre Dame

This was a big tour for the choir. We toured ten cities in just 13 days! This meant a lot of one–night stops for the folkheads, which was both good and bad. It was good because we were able to share our music and ministry with a LOT of people, and we made many new friends on tour. But sadly, it also meant that we didn't get to spend very much time with our host families in each town. And it meant that we had to unpack and repack almost every night! The humanity!

Ok, actually it was just a lot of fun. We toured in a big loop, stopping for several days in Buffalo — we spent a day at Niagara Falls, enjoying the spectacular natural beauty, and we spent another day at Cedar Point exploring the more man-made exhilaration that can be had from riding roller coasters. Our host parishes were unfailingly generous with feeding us, and I can say fairly that I ate more fried chicken on this tour than I had in the past six months combined (and I probably gained a few pounds from all the desserts, too ...)

We were singing music mostly off of the new recording we did in January, Witness of the Saints. Every concert was energetic and joyful, and I think we touched the hearts of many people in the "big choir" every night. I know that I loved every minute of it, and I can't think of a bettere way to spend the weeks after my graduation than with the Folkheads, losing sleep and sharing our vocation with each other and the world!

Below are some thumbnails of pictures taken on tour. You can click on each to open the picture in a new window.

  
[left] Joe and Paul, the digital cameraman and our new webmaster, [right] the Cookie on the bus

[below, left–right] environmental sculpture in New Harmony; a fun welcome sign for us in Terra Haute; Theresa and Erica riding at Cedar Pointe; The gang waiting in line at Cedar Pointe; our fabulous bus driver Orv riding the horses at Cedar Pointe; Zach and Erica's proposal (a "punishment") (ha!); the obbligato bravely carries on as the bus breaks down en route; Josh has too much fun playing drums; the freshman are initiated into choir by singing "alternative lyrics" to Folk Choir songs; Sean and the ladies :-)