Do You Remember Rochester’s 1970’s Christmas Song?

Every now and then the internet machine stops being awful and gives us a reason to smile and feel good. Like right now with a video titled Rochester, MN Christmas and has it started people talking!

According to the video, it's Rochelle Stensby and Jefferson Elementary Students, but no known date. It was shared today (December 3rd, 2020) on the Facebook Group, "Old Rochester, Minnesota" The response was swift the story of the song came out, but first, click play.

I did my best to take down the chorus...

Rochester, Minnesota, that's my hometown
Where the hearts are full of singing
And the bells are full of ringing for the holidays
As we gather round together never minding wintry weather
There's no place that I would rather be … Rochester, Minnesota, that's my hometown.

After I'd transcribed the chorus, I came across a Post Bulletin story on "Christmas In Rochester, My Hometown" from a guy that was there, former Rochester radio personality, Harley Fathers.

It was autumn 1970 when Rochelle arranged to have her Sunset Terrace School first-grade students go the top floor, 16 stories up, in the downtown Holiday Inn, formerly the Sheraton.

There, recording engineer Tom Jones captured the voices and it was put on a 45 rpm record. Two years later, she recorded her sixth-grade class, complete with a young drummer.  (Read more here)

 

The song is written by Rochelle Stensby, and the comments are filled with happy memories and more...

Such a great story! Personal thanks to William Spitzer for sharing the video, to Mike Dougherty for sharing the Post Bulletin story, and to Jon Goetz for sharing an image of the actual record!

Listen to James Rabe and Jessica Williams 6a to 10a on Y-105 FM's Early Morning Show.

And speaking of remembering...