Mennonite four-part harmony congregational singing will be part of a cultural festival on the National Mall in Washington this summer.

The Smithsonian Folklife and Cultural Heritage Center will host the event June 29, July 1, 3, 4 and 6. The theme is “Living Religion: Creative Encounters in the U.S.”

Singers from progressive and conservative Mennonite backgrounds will lead and participate in public hymn-sings and will discuss the role of hymn singing as social music in a range of Mennonite contexts.

Song leaders will include Jon Dueck of Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship in Winnipeg, Man.; Felix Zook and Faith Zook of Hampden Mennonite Church in Baltimore; Eric Hochstetler of Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship in North Carolina; Erin Roth of North Baltimore Mennonite Church in Maryland; Wilmer Gehman of Living Water Mennonite Fellowship in Reinholds, Pa.; Nolan Martin of Rawlinsville Mennonite District in Pennsylvania; and Cindy Lapp of Hyattsville Mennonite Church in Maryland.

Additionally, singers will be present from Hyattsville Mennonite Church, North Baltimore Mennonite Church, Hampden Mennonite Church, Community House Church in Baltimore, Rawlinsville Mennonite District and Living Water Mennonite Fellowship.

Mennonite programming as well as that of many other religious and spiritual groups represented at the festival can be found at: https://festival.si.edu/schedule.

People who are in the Washington area between June 29 and July 9 are invited to lend their voice to a hymn-sing, join in the conversation or take part in a yard-size game of Dutch Blitz.