Long before we started watching other people sing on "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent," people used to sing themselves. Lots and lots of people.
In the 1920s, '30s and '40s, the Minneapolis Park Board hosted community singing events every night in 11 parks for eight weeks, drawing hundreds of thousands of people over the course of a summer.
"It was not infrequent to have sings attract 10,000 people," Theodore Wirth, the godfather of the city's parks, reported in his 1945 book "Minneapolis Park System." "In 1931, a crowd of 40,000 flooded Powderhorn Lake Park."
A group is trying to revive the notion of mass public singing, with the proceeds going to charity. Minnesota Community Sings raised $2,700 for Haitian earthquake relief by enticing 150 people to sing in public in April. Now, the group hopes to attract even more people and raise even more money with a follow-up event Saturday.
Just don't call it a sing-along.
"We don't use that term because it sounds kind of cornball," said Betty Tisel, who said that she focuses on organizing while her partners, Bret Hesla and Mary Preus, focus on the singing. "We prefer the term 'community sing.'"
Enthusiasm is more important than talent, Hesla said. No one will give you a dirty look if you're slightly off key -- or even way off key.
"This is for ordinary voices," he said. "We don't have a star soloist and then have the crowd chime in on the chorus. The song leader helps get things started and then gets out of the way."
