The Legacy Choir will debut next Saturday night at the 19th annual meeting of the Friends of the Bowlus.
Rehearsing since July, the choir, organized by Jan Knewtson with encouragement from Bowlus Fine Arts Center Executive Director Susan Raines, has 25 voices.
Raines’ role in its formation includes her being a member. She noted that with no Vespers Choir performance scheduled this Christmas season, many who like to sing were looking for an opportunity.
The Legacy Choir will give them that, at the Friends event and in other venues, some leading up to recognition of the Bowlus Center’s 50th anniversary. It will have a life of its own and not be dependent on opportunities to perform in association with Bowlus activities, Raines added.
Special numbers at the Friends event will be “You Raise Me Up,” by Jim Gilpin and Janet Nichols, and “You Were There,” by the Rev. Jim Rausch.
“We’ll also do ‘Bugler’s Holiday,’” Knewtson said. “It’s usually done with trumpets and doing it with voices is going to be interesting.”
The Friends meeting will be at the North Community Building starting at 6 p.m. Oct. 8 and will include silent, live and stretch auctions. A stretch auction, Knewtson explained, involves purchase of a string of tickets as long as a person’s out-stretched arms.
“The Friends event will be a great first run for the Legacy Choir,” Raines said.
PLANNING for the Bowlus’ 50th anniversary is in very early stages, Raines noted.
“We’re looking at kicking off the celebration in the fall of 2013 and have special events through the end of 2014,” she said.
The Bowlus opened in September 1964, a gift to the community and Iola schools from Thomas H. Bowlus, longtime Iola banker. He left money in his estate, including a $1-million trust for operations, from his conviction that the fine arts are an integral part of a
community’s culture and that it is important for students to have a comprehensive education in music, drama and visual arts.
A public meeting sometime next spring or early summer will bring together all in the community who have ideas about what can be done to recognize the 50th birthday of the Bowlus, Raines said.
“We’ve talked about maybe having shows from each decade,” she said, with the expectation that the many people who have participated in and attended the multitude of events at the Bowlus will have “good ideas for what we can do.”
The planning session date will be announced well ahead of time.
