When it comes to talking about this photo, or any that involves my family, chances are there is a backstory behind it - and more often than not, I don’t know where to begin. On the surface, this appears like a happy family of four foolishly dressed in clothes instead of bathing suits on the sunny sandy beach, smiling for the camera. However, this photo marked an unforgettable moment in the history of the Stellabotte family, and for Ocean City, New Jersey.
It all started when my parents were looking to put a condo they used to rent in the city up for sale. A realtor they occasionally came in contact with through the business - who happened to be a long-time event coordinator for the yearly Ocean City business person’s plunge and unlocking of the ocean ceremony - reached out to them to offer his assistance. My parents jokingly made a deal with him; in exchange for quickly selling the property, they would assemble the Stellabotte family singers for the first time (which included themselves, my sister, and I) to sing the national anthem at the ceremony - something they had to turn down in the past because of the school schedules my sister and I had. However, when the realtor secured an offer in less than a day, my parents decided to hold up their end of the bargain. The week before the ceremony, we were asked by the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce to audition before we would be permitted to perform. Within a half hour of emailing the recording of us from my camcorder, we got a call from the realtor saying we got the greenlight. The ceremony started at noon on the Friday before Memorial Day, and it couldn’t have been a more beautiful day. A band and choir performed before it was our turn. Each of us stood behind our own microphone on the balcony of the Music Pier, singing to the crowd and cameras on the boardwalk and the sand - going off without a hitch. Immediately after, “the key unlocked the beach” for the businessmen to plunge fully clothed into the water, our photo was taken by the Ocean City Sentinel - the one above.
The photo clearly establishes the sunny (almost overexposed) sand beneath our feet and the beautiful Ocean City Boardwalk (peep the ferris wheel barely visible on the left-hand side, and a part of the shop on the right) in the background of this photo, but the focus is clearly on the four of us. From left to right, we have my mom (who sang soprano-the higher female vocal part), my sister Deanna (who sang alto-the lower female vocal part), me (who sang bass-the lower male vocal part), and my dad (who sang tenor-the higher vocal part). All of us are cheesing for the photographer’s shot, channeling the joy from our performance that happened mere minutes beforehand going as well as it did - despite how nervous we were leading up to it, none of that seems to show in this press photo or in the article for Ocean City residents that comes with it.
The understanding of the story that my sibling and I had was slightly different from reality according to my parents, as they corrected my sister and I on thinking that the realtor and the opportunity itself were merely coincidental - when it was something our parents knew well about beforehand - but the memory of the ceremony itself is crystal clear to all of us. Unless someone were to know of us personally, witnessed the event, or read the article this photo was taken for, there is no way to tell from the photo that we just performed the national anthem in front of a massive audience. Outside observers may only see a simplistic and arguably stereotypical family photo - but I guess it makes me all the more grateful that I can tell the greater story that lies beneath the surface.
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