MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — There's a Minneapolis pub where the music makes you feel as warm as its whiskey.
Sunday afternoon, people of all generations packed inside part of Merlins Rest Pub in the Longfellow neighborhood for pub caroling.
"For most of us, music is something you listen to on your iPhone... it is something for which you go to a concert. This is all about participation. It's not about listening," said Jim Pfau, who organizes the annual pub caroling event.
As told first in City Pages, it all started 11 years ago at The Dubliner in St. Paul. The pub hosts a monthly event where people are invited to sing sea shanties. Nat Case then brought the tradition over to Merlins Rest, a British Isles pub. Many people attend both of the monthly pub sings. But the pub caroling event—in its ninth year at Merlins Rest—happens only once a year.
"A public house in England is a community center and so we want to provide that community to the Longfellow neighborhood and Minneapolis. We're that community hub for our neighbors," said Karina Besnett, general manager at Merlins Rest.
All are welcome to sing but they have a few guidelines: No song books, no instruments, and a chorus simple enough to sing along to.
"You learn as you go," said Marie Booth of St. Paul.
The pub caroling is inspired by the tradition in Sheffield, England but it's very much homegrown.
It was Donovan and Rama Hart's first time at the event. Donovan said, "I think there's a communal feeling of joy and togetherness."
The group sang for about two hours. Different people would take the lead for each song but in this group, it's all about the collective voice.
Pfau said, "The joy out of singing here is just that. It is the joy of hearing my voice with—this case, call it 50 or 60 other voices—raised up in song. With luck, actually in harmony but it's okay if they're not."
Merlins Rest hosts pub sings on the first Sunday of the month and the fourth Monday of the month. Follow along through Merlins Rest's events calendar or on the Merlins Rest Pub Sings Facebook group.
The Dubliner hosts its Sea Shanty Sing on the second Monday of every month. More info can be found through their events calendar.