By Brandon Barger
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—The marble halls of the Statehouse filled with many voices Wednesday. It wasn’t a rally, but it certainly felt like one. It was actually the voices of many third and fourth grade students from around the state singing the classic song, “Happy Birthday.â€
The voices that echoed around the building and up into the Rotunda weren’t honoring an individual, though. Instead, they were singing: “Happy birthday, dear Indiana. Happy birthday to you.â€
The Plainfield Belles and Beaux Choir sings Back Home Again in Indiana at the Statehood Day event at the Statehouse on Dec. 11.
Photo by Brandon Barger, TheStatehouseFile.com
This birthday party was honoring Indiana’s 203rdyear as a state.
The Statehood Day event commemorates the day – Dec. 11, 1816 – when Indiana transformed from territory to the 19thstate of the union.
About 100 people attended Wednesday’s celebration. In addition to the students, attendees included Gov. Eric Holcomb, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Chief Appellate Judge Nancy Vaidik and former President Benjamin Harrison, represented by an impersonator.
The atrium where the event was held was decorated for the occasion with a large blue-and-gold Indiana state flag hung from the third-floor banister. As the program began, the Indy Metropolitan Memorial Color Guard presented the national and state flags to the assembled group and the Plainfield Belles and Beaux Choir from Plainfield High School sang the national anthem and later, Back Home Again in Indiana.
The theme of the birthday party, Today is Tomorrow’s History, was emphasized by Connor Lakin, a fourth-grade student from Van Rensselaer Elementary School who was the winner of the Statehood Day essay contest.
Gov. Eric Holcomb shakes fourth-grader Connor Lakin’s hand after Lakin’s speech at the Statehood Day event on December 11.
Photo by Brandon Barger, TheStatehouseFile.com
“History is how we grow, and Indiana is a huge part of my history,†Lakin said, noting he lives in the same home in which his father grew up.
After Lakin finished, he was awarded several prizes, including one of the state flags that has flown over the Statehouse and a proclamation honoring him from the governor.
Holcomb also talked about the theme, asking the children what they wanted to do in the future. Their stories, he noted, will become part of the history of Indiana in the years to come.
FOOTNOTE: Brandon Barger is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalists.
