The attendance of the program swelled, then petered out into assorted sub-dialogues.
In 1972, Fernwood's attendance swelled to 915 middle schoolers.
Over the next few decades, the population of Lebanon grew and the attendance at the institution swelled to such a degree that it eventually became a high school solely serving grades 9-12.
As attendance swelled, they were emboldened to take the prayer meeting on to the Ring road that circles the city centre.
By last year, attendance had swelled to about 300,000, rivaling that of the parade itself, which has usually been held on the same day and is organized by the same nonprofit group, Heritage of Pride.
Last year, attendance swelled to 60 people.
Murray Dweck, who founded the synagogue in 1998, said attendance has swelled from 40 congregants to more than 100 families.
But by 1949 attendances for these sorts of events had swelled and other grounds had to be rented by the Union to facilitate them.
It was the sixth such seminar in the city since the summer, and attendance had swelled to 120 at previous sessions.
Since then attendance has swelled to a half million and the budget has grown from $33,000 to $500,000.