Every year in December, the people of Muncie gather for a time-honored event, the Community Christmas Sing.  This gathering during the holiday season symbolizes the unity of a sometimes-divided community.  On that day in December, the citizens of “Middletown” join voices to sing long-established songs of joy and peace in an event which is a community hallmark.

On Wednesday, December 18, 1935, Munsonians gathered in the Muncie Fieldhouse for the first annual Christmas sing.  This festival brought together more than 6,000 people during the Great Depression to celebrate the holiday season.  Days of preparation were needed to prepare the 400 trees which were decorated and lighted for the inaugural event.  All of the trees were donated by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.1   In addition to the trees, the first Sing featured over 1,500 trained voices including the Ball State College Choral Society, and Choral groups from the junior and senior high schools who accompanied the many residents.2  On that evening, the Fieldhouse was transformed from a place of learning and sport to a place of yuletide celebration.  Richard Greene, reporter for Muncie Evening Press, wrote that the event was like “an interdenominational church.” 3

The Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) organized the first Community Sing.  A committee consisting of E. Arthur Ball, chairman of the WPA’s tenth district, Mrs. J. Cooper Props, supervisor of the city recreation department, and Merle Swanger, Delaware County recreation supervisor, was created by the WPA’s regional office in Indianapolis to organize and supervise the event.4

To be sure, this inaugural Community Sing was a spectacle that the community enjoyed during the hard times of the Depression.   Gathered together as citizens of Muncie, they sang renditions of “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” “The Messiah,” and the program closed with “Joy to the World.”    Thus, a tradition was established which is still enjoyed by members of the community to the present day.

  For the next few years, the event occurred annually.  The Christmas Community Sing was viewed by Munsonians as a special event which highlighted the Christmas season. Then on December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States was soon to enter World War II.  According to Nancy Turner, a lifetime resident of Muncie people wondered if the festival should go on that year.5  People questioned if it was appropriate to carry on this celebratory event in the face of such tragedy.  Despite these questions, Muncie continued with its preparations for the event, and on Sunday, December 13, 1941 the sixth annual Community Christmas Sing was held.  Thousands turned out for the event, so many in fact that hundreds were turned away because the Fieldhouse was filled to capacity.6  Moreover, in keeping with the patriotic spirit, flags and bunting were displayed along with the traditional evergreens and 250 lighted trees. 

The preparation for the Community Sing were very time consuming.  Custodians, and organizers dedicated many hours at a time preparing the Fieldhouse for the annual Sing.  According to Doris Faulkner Stewart, leader of the  Community Christmas Sing for 12 years, organizers would start decorating the Fieldhouse as soon as possible.  They even had to work through the night some years in order to meet the Sunday deadline.7   The many hours spent organizing and preparing for the event were well rewarded when the capacity crowds gathered to celebrate the Christmas season.

Indeed, Community Christmas Sing is a hallmark tradition of the Muncie community that still retains its popularity.  As Jim Stohler, a member of the Magic City Music Men and a participant in the 2003 Christmas Sing, explained, "It's very rewarding, but part of the reward is coming to see the children perform. I enjoy good talent." The Sing brings together all members of the city, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Northside, Southside, Eastside, and Westside together.  Under the one roof of the Fieldhouse, this community celebrates. As Doris Faulkner Stewart said, " the large venue was ideal for housing the kind of crowd the Christmas Sing drew."8 To be sure, the Fieldhouse brings people of this community together for the Christmas Sing, and it is a tradition that will continue for many years to come.

Born in Humboldt Tennessee, Doris Faulkner Stewart, spent the majority of her life in Muncie Indiana.  She attended Ball State University, and after graduating, she went on to teach in Detroit Michigan for two years.  Her intention, after graduation, was to teach for the Muncie school system, but they did not allow African Americans to teach at that time.  After her two years in Michigan, she went on to take a position in Indianapolis.  Finally, she found a position in the Muncie school system.  There she worked as the supervisor of music and art for the entire school system for more than a dozen years.  While in the Muncie school system, Doris Faulkner Stewart, led the Muncie Community Christmas Sing for 12 years.