For Juli Burden Carlin of Evanston, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without caroling. Carlin’s family threw a caroling party every year of her life, and she now continues this tradition with her own family and friends in their neighborhood, near Central Street.
While caroling independent of church groups may be a lost art, people on the North Shore, like Carlin, are keeping the tradition of holiday singing alive and, in some cases, bringing music to those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to experience it during the holidays.
“There’s something unique about people taking a breath together and singing,” says Robert Bowker, artistic director of the Evanston-based professional music group The Lakeside Singers (lakesidesingers.com). He’s hosted a caroling party at his Evanston home for almost 40 years.
Bowker and his wife, Susan, gather about 50 carolers to go out on the second Saturday in December. The caroling is then followed by dinner and variety shows in Bowker’s great room, with a crowd of about 120 sitting on the floor. The crowd is sometimes so big that Bowker broadcasts the show on a TV in another room.
Because the Bowkers are friends with so many professional musicians, the show includes lots of singing, but there are also poetry readings, short plays, chamber music, comedy and other acts. It’s all performances people prepare “as gifts,” he says.
Bowker also takes his caroling group to local shelters and Albany House (901 Maple Ave., Evanston, 847-275-4000), a nursing-care facility with a special program for people with chronic mental illness.
“When you’re standing next to [someone] who’s really having a tough time and sharing your book, it’s what Christmas should be about,” says Carol Fry of Northfield, who has attended the Bowkers’ party for many years with her husband, Gary Fry, a well-known composer for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Carlin’s party, which is attended by 40 to 50 people, happens on the Sunday before Christmas. Families gather at the Carlins’ house and sing accompanied by a pianist for 20 minutes or so before heading out to share with the neighborhood. Then the group returns for more singing around the fire with cookies and hot chocolate.
“I love the simplicity of the event. It’s multigenerational, it brings the spirit, and I feel peaceful and truly present,” Carlin says.
While the kids’ favorites are “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman,” Carlin says her favorite carol is “Silent Night.” If people like the Carlins and the Bowkers keep up their traditions, some North Shore nights will be, merrily, anything but.
