Hello All….David here,

Friday March 7th,  THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY CHILDREN’S CHORUS will perform at 7:00pm.  The doors will open at 6:30pm and this event is free.   This is a wonderful thing for Shelbyville and Shelby County to have the I.U. School of Music select the Strand for a performance.   Please show your support and try to attend this concert!

I would like to welcome all the new "Strand Fans" to our list.   We tend to have a little fun.   We refer to lots of volunteers and friends of the project.  This is a nice way for everyone to know the people involved.    Sometimes I write the email, sometimes Steve writes them.   Today by gosh you are lucky (or unlucky), you’ve got me.

Work has been continuing at the theatre.   The types of activities being done the are those things that are unseen, but still vital.   I know Gordon H. has been painting, what he has been painting is a mystery to me.     One of the things he mentioned was that the arms on the balcony seats all got a second coat.  

We have had lots of work on the publicity side.   Cindy L., Debbie E. and Sharon S. have gotten together and produced a wonderful newsletter.   It is mainly to be mailed.  It is called "The S.R.O.".    They also produced a shorter version for the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce mailing called "Strand Shorts".     Thank you to the group for their leadership.    We will send an electronic copy on this list too.

We had two fun events at the Strand, those events are why we did this theatre in the first place.   On Friday February 22nd Megan Shafer and Casey Browder produced a variety show with 100% high school talent.   They had an attendance of over 230.    It was fun.    They performers were excellent.  We heard vocalists, oboe solos, rock bands, percussion groups, magicians and many others.   It was a well run, entertaining evening of local talent.    A big thank you to Steve D. and Darin M. for getting our outstanding electrical issues solved before the show, and especially Ron B. who was the Strand’s liaison and mentor to the groups.   Ron’s work at the sound board made him the ideal person to help the performers understand the things they needed to do in order to sound good in our theatre.

On Sunday February 24th the Shelby Community Band had our first concert in the Strand.   We had over 250 too!   That is AMAZING.   All who attended heard a great variety of local talent.    We had fun on stage, and I’m sure the audience had fun too.   The concert was free.   The attendees were very generous.  We collected over $270 in our donation pot.   Thank you everyone.

Here are our upcoming events:

Friday March 7          IU Children’s Chorus    7:00    Free
Saturday March 29       Gateway Trio            7:30    $15.00
Saturday April  5       Travis of the Cosmos    7:30    TBA
Thursday April 24       Poetry Reading          7:00    Free

We are booking things as we go.   Hopefully our schedule will fill with other events.  Gary and Michelle N. are taking the lead in our event booking.   Michelle is working on a facility agreement.   Also, if you would like to volunteer at any of these, please let Steve Frazee know.

Thanks for all the support.   On behalf of Steve and Chris, I would like to thank the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce for the vote of support for our project.  The award that we received was quite unexpected.   While our names are on the plaque, the award is really for everyone connected with the Strand!

Hope to see you at the concert on March 7th.

David