Carrol Walker's Old Norfolk

Holidays on the Hague

By Peggy Haile McPhillips
Norfolk City Historian

It was a clear, cold night on the first day of winter, 21 December 1938.

Some 8,000 local residents gathered along the Hague for the city’s first Community Christmas Festival, made even colder by a brisk wind out of the northwest. The program featured seven tableaux of the Nativity by the Old Dominion Guild Players, under the direction of Mrs. Florian P. Harrington. A chorus of 1,000 voices from the Blair Junior High School chorus and other local choral groups offered carols and anthems, including a solo rendition of “O Holy Night” by young William Meissel that was a crowd favorite. The program was preceded by an overture by the Blair band, under the direction of Mr. Robert A. Mau. Many of the musicians, as shown here, shivered under a layer of blankets against the 34 degree temperature as young fingers struggled to play their notes.

Norfolk City Manager Charles Borland opened the festival with the flick of a switch that illuminated the banks of the Hague and a large Christmas tree floating in the water on a barge. The Virginian-Pilot of the following morning declared the festival a huge success.