Pageant pleases Old Home Week crowd
By KAREN BITNER Echo Pilot

The former Leiter's Hardware was the setting for one of the pageant scenes.

A kaleidoscope-like view of life in Greencastle-Antrim since the Civil War, "I'll Be Seeing You," the 2007 Old Home Week Pageant, played to packed houses at G-AHS Tuesday and Wednesday nights of OHW. Witten by Dody Clever and Sharon Baumbaugh, and directed by Kevin Carley, the pageant presented scenes from area history.

The play followed a musical prelude by the 54-member OHW Pageant Band conducted by David McCandless. A 31-voice Old Home Week Pageant Chorus directed by Dave Besecker also accompanied many of the scenes.

"I'll Be Seeing You" begins in 1859, with townspeople wondering about the doings of a mysterious stranger, Isaac Smith, also known as John Brown, staying at the Union Hotel on Center Square.

In the second scene, two families, several young men and a dating couple all wait for the trolley to take them to Pen Mar Park, where they will picnic, enjoy amusement rides, and enjoy the view. When the trolley becomes derailed, they all work together to get things back on track.

The different branches of the service were portrayed by Dan and Sam Monn, Jim Plunkett and Keith Taber, while bugler Richard Nowell waits in the background to play 'Taps' during the scene "Freedom Isn't Free."

"A Hard Act to Follow," the third scene, is set in 1934, and shows a minstrel show practice that ends up getting the minstrels sent packing after they saw through the stage. Of interest in this scene was the depiction of Preston "Sambo" Mowen by his son, Frank Mowen.

Scene IV, "Uncle Sam Wants You" shows young area men at the draft board, then marching off to war. One of the young draftees, William A. Diehl, was played by his grandson, Kyle Snowberger.

After a brief intermission, Scene V, "The Farmers' Nightclub" shows 1945-era farmers coming into town to socialize at Leiter's Hardware on South Carlisle Street.

"Motorist, Spare that Tree," set in 1948, details problems with the placement of the town's Christmas Tree in the center of the Town Square, instead of on one corner as had been done before. In this scene, John Alleman played his father, electrician Jake Alleman, who lights up the tree after it is finally in place.

The Old Home Week Pageant Chorus delighted the crowd.

Scene VII, "Where were You in '72" deals with the devastation caused by 1972's Hurricane Agnes, which destroyed a stone arch bridge and nearly wiped out Martin's Mill Covered Bridge as well. The scene featured Bob Thomas playing himself as a young radio announcer detailing the devastation.

In the concluding scene, "Freedom Isn't Free," shows sacrifices made by the armed forces, which make freedom possible. Three of the actors in this scene, Marine Dan Monn and combat soldiers Sam Monn and Keith Taber, are grandsons of pageant co-author Dody Clever.

The pageant concluded with band, chorus, cast and audience singing "God Bless the U.S. A."

Andrea McCauley, portraying Mrs. Glen Myers, describes to WKSL's Bob Thomas, damage done by Hurricane Ages during the scene "Where Were You in '72." The tradition of the male quartet singing "The Little Brown Church in the Vale" continued.