Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sings at Twins Game

Wednesday June 19, 2013. Greetings from Minneapolis, Minnesota! After a very early start out of Madison Wisconsin, and a full day of travelling and singing, including participating in a dedication ceremony of the Black River Falls “Mormon Loggers” memorial (a very cool experience I will be blogging about separately), The Mormon Tabernacle Choir finally arrived in Minneapolis at approximately 5:00 PM local time.

First View of Minneapolis

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Tonight was a designated “free night”. A welcome chance to relax and see the sites prior to our final 2013 Summer Tour performance on Thursday, June 20th in the Target Center. As it turned out, we arrived on game day! The Minnesota Twins were going head to head with the Chicago White Sox in nearby Target Field! Thanks to choir member Dave Palmer’s most excellent organizational prowess, about 200 members of our 500 travelling group grabbed the opportunity to go see the game. Poor Dave didn’t really know what he was getting himself into! He THOUGHT with a little luck he might be able to get 25 people to come in order to qualify for the group discount. He greatly underestimated the lure of America’s past-time, and one-dollar hot-dog night! (Thanks, Dave!)

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Like many Choir and Orchestra members, this was my first visit to Minneapolis, and my first time to attend a pro baseball game. I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect to be greeted with a FREE HUG from a very cute young man! I also didn’t anticipate the beauty of the stadium, the carefully manicured field (which I learned is kept green using specially recycled and reclaimed rain water), the stunning view from the top, the SIZE of the stadium, the happy and friendly workers, and the entertaining interactive jumbo tron (complete with “smile cam”, “kiss cam” and “water cam” among other entertaining things). This was a very fun departure from our usual Choir Tour routine!

My First Twins Game

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We all sat together in the “Family Section” of the beautiful new stadium and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We discovered KILLEBREW ROOT BEER. This beverage was an instant hit and MoTab crowd pleaser!  Not only because it tastes delicious, but also because it actually has a Mormon connection. We put an extra big smile on the face of Patrick (our salesman, supplier and all-around cool guy) as we kept emptying his ice bucket! This drink is named after Twins Baseball Hall of Famer  Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011). According to Wikipedia, Killebrew was “second only to Babe Ruth in American League (AL) home runs”.  He played left-handed and right-handed and pretty much excelled at everything baseball.  He was also a Mormon.

Mormons in The Outfield

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One of our fave moments was during the middle “stretch” of the 7th Inning when the entire audience is traditionally invited to stand and sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”. 

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At the end of that video you get to catch a glimpse of Kellie, our awesome usher and teacher of baseball-game etiquette. She was a great cheerleader, and cool new friend.

Congratulations to the Twins for playing a great game, and their well-deserved win!

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P.S. I loved the fireworks

Related articles

• I’m Going On Tour With The MoTab (mormonsoprano.com)
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir Tour 2013 Day 1: Ohio (mormonsoprano.com)
• Mormon Soprano Instagram Blogs MoTab Tour (mormonsoprano.com)
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir heads to Midwest for summer tour (ksl.com)