Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net
As you can see from the flier hung at the Great Auditorium, the organ concerts will be continued this summer. This is always a wonderful program. Gordon Turk is the organizer and master of ceremonies, and he always adds an extra dimension of interest as he narrates each show. He brings in guest organists, and the schedule will provide the details.
Last year they called this program “Organ Concerts” but now it has been given a flashier name: “114th Annual Organ Festival”
It’s not clear where the idea of a historic “festival” is documented. We know that the famous Hope-Jones organ was installed here in 1908, so that is where “114” comes from, but there is nothing that I know of in the history books that would establish an “annual organ festival. since 1908.”
The Garden State Theater Organ Society features a Blogfinger photograph of the Great Auditorium interior. But they do not, however, document a historic organ festival.
From their site:
“Installed in 1908, the total cost was $26,000, half of which was donated by the Hope-Jones Company. The organ has since been rebuilt, modernized, and greatly expanded. The Great Auditorium’s organ concerts on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons throughout the summer continue to draw enthusiastic listeners.”
Paul Goldfinger photo brought over from the Garden State Theater Organ Society web site. Blogfinger photo.
It is interesting that the Camp Meeting Association would promote the “Organ Festival” as historic, because they do not have an in-house historian who might have come up with documentation. The Historical Society of OG is supposed to cover that history. Maybe they will comment.
Perhaps some of you might wonder why I am fussing over this historical issue. It is because documentation of history is essential to provide the truth about what came before. There are drawings on the walls of caves in France which help modern day historians to understand and lend truth to where we came from.
And archeologists in Israel continue to search for facts to support what is said in the Bible.
And the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which takes pride in its history, as evidenced by their 150th anniversary celebration in 2019, should pay careful attention to documenting its historical claims.
Here is a piece called “Cantilene” recorded by Gordon Turk on the OG Hope-Jones organ.