Adult Grand March Coordinator

Number of People: 2–4

Budget: $0

The Adult Grand March takes place on the final evening after the Musicale. You will need:

Setup

The Lobby needs to be cleared of chairs after the Musicale ends, but not put back as it is during the day — the furniture needs to shoved to the side. (Conference Services should be around to help.) Doors need to be propped open: from the Dining Room to the Front Porch, from the Dining Room to Elliot, from the Lobby to the Front Porch, from the Lobby Alcove to the staircase (near the Bookstore), and from the staircase to the Back Porch. In addition, the rocking chairs on the front, side, and back porches should be pushed up against the railings so there's plenty of room for marching and making bridges on the porch. This is important on the West end (side) and White Island (back) of the porch as well as the main front porch, since the March will extend all the way around to the back side of the porch before returning inside. The March will end in Elliot, so all the chairs will need to be cleared from that room.

The Music

As part of the Star Island Beloved Community Project, a new song was written for the Grand March in 2022: https://starisland.org/a-new-song/ You can read more about why we retired the old song, which was set to the tune of Marching to Pretoria, at that link.

The music is usually played by two piano players. There are almost always staff members who can do this – if you haven't found them before the Pel Show, that's a good time to identify them, since it's the same music (and same musicians) that end the Pel Show. Some people, particularly New Shoalers but also some Old Shoalers, want to know the words to this song (some people try to sing as they march). The words are listed below and could be printed for those interested in knowing the lyrics (although they should be warned that it's almost impossible to read and march at the same time).

The March

Start with everyone in pairs, one pair behind the other, each pair holding hands. There is no need for each pair to represent a heterosexual couple, nor does it matter which side the men and women stand on. First in line is the volunteer pair leading the march, followed by the newly-named chairs, followed by this year's chairs. After that come the former chairs, in order from most seniority (served longest ago) to least. Mostly the past chairs know their hierarchy and can line themselves up (but you can use the Past Conferences page if they need a reminder). The line starts in the Lobby, next to the lobby desk at the door to the Dining Room.

Everyone marches two-by-two into the dining room, turns left (at least one person should be sitting in the dining room and sending couples towards the porch), and goes out on to the front porch and turns right. (It is vital that the lead pair takes comically small baby steps, since the line curves almost immediately and a “crack the whip” effect can build up quickly.) The line may go to the right for a few yards, hugging close to the wall of the hotel, and then must turn 180 degrees around to their left, staying close enough to the hotel that one straight long bridge can form along the entire length of the porch. When the lead pair gets back to being approximately even with the dining room doors, the lead pair makes a bridge with their hands, and the second pair goes under the bridge and then immediately makes a bridge themselves. Each pair goes under a bridge and then makes a bridge creating a rather long tunnel. The lead pair follows the last pair in the procession going under the arching arms the length of the porch. The lead pair, once through the bridge, must resist the very strong urge to make another bridge once they get through – just keep marching! It takes most of the front porch length to get everyone through a single bridge. The march continues to the end of the porch, turns left onto the west end of the porch, and then comes back into the lobby through the doors between the truck trestle and the stairway and the stairway and the lobby. (This is why those doors must be propped open.) The march re-enters the lobby near the bookstore and marches through the lobby back to the dining room.

Now you really need an authoritative traffic cop or two. This volunteer will split the march into two groups – every other pair, starting with the first, will turn left and go back to the front porch, while the other pairs, starting with the new chairs (2nd pair in the procession), will turn right and go towards the snack bar. At all times, pairs stay together. Do not allow anyone to let go of their partner’s hands once they are joined. The first group of pairs walks through the dining room to the porch and then right back into the lobby through the front doors, turning right and hugging the right-hand wall near the piano, staying near the wall at the Pel Show/Musicale stage, and keeping the pillar in the lobby near the piano on their left. The other group of pairs turns right and walks through the dining room, turns right again toward the snack bar area (ideally, you widen the path ahead of time by moving the tables slightly to make the correct aisle obvious) and comes back into the lobby through the doors where the menu and water fountain are, turning left and hugging the wall near the bookstore. The two columns of pairs should meet each other at the Pel Show/Musicale stage. If one column of pairs happens to arrive at the center of the stage first, they should take baby steps until the other column gets there from the other side so that they can join together at the stage itself.

When the pairs meet one another, they should join hands with another pair, making a group of 4. (You may need another authoritative traffic cop to enforce this, physically joining the hands and repeating “don’t let go, don’t let go”). The groups of 4 then march as a unit across the lobby straight back into the dining room. The same dining room-based volunteer team does the same thing it did to the pairs: starting with the first lead group, every other group of 4 goes out to the porch, and back into the lobby, and hugs the right-hand wall, and the other groups of 4 go through the snack bar to the lobby, and hug the left-hand wall. Once again, the groups meet one another at the center of the Pel Show stage.

The groups of 4 then join hands with one another (encouraged by a traffic cop) and become groups of 8. Groups of 8, holding hands in strong lines, march back across the lobby and proceed to Elliot. The traffic cop from the dining room should meet them. The first group (which should still have the lead pair in it) should move to its left, and the right-most hand of the first group of 8 should join hands with the left-most hand of the second group of 8, forming a single chain. In the end, everyone will be in one long line of people with joined hands, in a spiral that faces out. The lead pair should lead the spiral inward, then turn and spiral outward at the critical moment (after all the groups are together in one long chain, but before the lead person in the chain reaches the center. How does the spiral outward begin? The person at the head of the chain, who is still facing out toward the walls like everyone else, suddenly pivots the chain 180 degrees clockwise so that s/he is for an instant facing his or her partner. The partner then follows the leader and the chain turning 180 degrees clockwise, leading the front of the chain that is now facing in toward the center instead of out toward the walls. Now people can see everyone’s faces. If this spiral is done well, every single person in the conference can look each other in the eye during this spiraling.

The piano players may take the opportunity to move from playing the Lobby piano to the Elliott piano somewhere during this process. Keep marching! You may need to loudly sing the chorus to keep people focused.

At some point in the spiraling, either the lead person or an outside observer (not always people in the lead pair, perhaps a traffic cop: decide who in advance, and tell the musicians to watch that person for the cue) can see that people are getting confused, tangled, and/or exhausted. At this point, they can signal the musicians to (finally!) stop playing, and can yell “One big circle!” All the marchers should end up in one circle, facing inwards, holding hands (usually we cross hands). At this point, the musicians start up again and we sing Auld Lang Syne, swaying to the music. This ends with a loud chant of “S-T-A-R….”, with the ending of the chant being the next year (“2019! 2019! 2019!”).

Then it’s time for Chapel.

Questions? Any part not clear? Jennifer Blue, Rick Colby, Margy and Jordan Young, and Britt and David Cryer contributed to these instructions.

The Songs

The New Star Island Song

[Chorus]
You will come back, come back to Star
No matter who or where you are
Be ye near, or be ye far
It’s our Spirit’s home

[Verse]
The Laighton brings us to the Pier / To this spot we hold so dear
From the porch, take in the view / You see me and I see you
Ancestors and future kin / Looking out, Looking in
It’s our spirit's home (woo-hoo!)

[Bridge]
Be with me, I’ll be with you
Cause here on Star that’s what we do
 Here on Star, be who you are
It’s our Spirit’s home

[Chorus]
You will come back, come back to Star
No matter who or where you are
Be ye near, or be ye far
It’s our Spirit’s home

[Verse]
East Rock for the rising sun / Muskrats waddle one by one
 Softball's playing on the lawn / Rocking chairs are rocking on
Generations laugh and bound / Then we hear that fog horn sound
It’s our spirits home (woo-hoo!)

[Bridge]
Dance with me, I’ll dance with you
Cause here on Star that’s what we do
 Here on Star, be who you are
It’s our Spirit’s home

[Chorus]
You will come back, come back to Star
No matter who or where you are
Be ye near, or be ye far
It’s our Spirit’s home

[Verse]
Lanterns floating up the hill / Candlelight, and all is still
Quiet steps and quiet night / Children sleeping, all is right
Sing together on a star / Gathering is who we are
It's our spirit's home (woo-hoo!)

[Bridge]
Sing with me, I’ll sing with you
Cause here on Star that’s what we do
Here on Star, be who you are
It’s our Spirit’s home

[Chorus]
You will come back, come back to Star
No matter who or where you are
Be ye near, or be ye far
It’s our Spirit’s home

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot / and never brought to mind
Should auld acquaintance be forgot / and days of auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear / for auld lang syne
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet / for auld lang syne


last update: Johanna Bobrow and Ben Cordes, July 2024 (post-conference)