Whether you’ve been around town for a year or a century, an evening of “music, song, and dance” awaits you at the Townshend Theatre here this Thursday and Friday night.
The Rainy River District Festival Association is staging a “Celebration of 100 years of the performing arts” as part of sanctioned centennial celebrations in Fort Frances.
The performances, which begin at 7:30 both nights, will feature music and dance from a multitude of cultures from around the district.
“Our main focus is to look through the past 100 years of performing arts,” said Carol Lyons, who has helped organize the event, adding they want to give a representation of all time periods.
“Performing arts have been such a big part of this community,” she noted.
Lyons noted there will be a quartet from the Borderland Orchestra on hand to play, as well as Ukrainian dancers, Scottish dancers and the Highland pipe band, and cloggers.
“We’ll have two different dance bands,” she added. “One from the ‘swing’ era and one doing a classic country barn dance.
“The music, song, and dance will tie each of the local performances into something from the past,” Lyons remarked, adding all of the people performing are volunteering their time.
“It’s a real heart-warming display of support of the concert,” said John Jankiewicz, president of the festival association.
“I think they’ll be great evenings,” enthused Lyons. “It’s a chance to have a nostalgic evening, like a school reunion. And the entertainment will be great.
“Even people without an interest in the arts will recognize people and reminisce,” she remarked.
As part of the centennial and historical theme, there also will be large poster displays featuring local photos and stories of the arts from the past century. The display was put together by Owen Johnston’s Grade 10 class at Fort High.
“We go back as late as 1906,” said Lyons.
And the historical reflection doesn’t stop there.
The two-hour show will be broken up by a short intermission, and before the beginning of each segment, there will be a five-minute “slide show”—complete with captions—on the big screen in the theatre.
“The research that has been pulled together is quite awesome,” Lyons said, adding people did a good job of getting in their old photos. “I think our best source was calling people that have been in the district for a long time.”
“I’ve been around for nearly 50 years and they have a lot I hadn’t seen before,” noted Jankiewicz.
Lyons said the most amazing thing she found in all the historical data was the sense of ownership people seemed to have for the arts in the district.
“The commitment we see in the district, it’s all been volunteer,” she said. “People stepped in when needed and the arts were supported by the community.
“I’m surprised how the high school has supported the arts,” she added. “The support goes back to the 1930s.”
For example, she said 300 students were involved in the music program at Fort High in the 1950s with a school enrolment of less than 1,000.
Tickets for the performances cost $8 for adults and $4 for students. They are available at Northwoods Gallery and Gifts on Scott Street as well as at the theatre box office beginning an hour before showtime.
Proceeds will go towards the Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts, which is slated to run March 31-April 13 this year.
“It’s the 70th anniversary of the music festival,” said Lyons. “And it’s always run by volunteers. We have a lot of great support for the arts.”
Jankiewicz said some of the money raised will be used to advertise the festival while the rest will be used to run the 2003 festival, “and hopefully beyond.”
As part of the two-day arts performance, Lyons said CBC Radio from Thunder Bay will be in town to do shows on the arts and the centennial celebrations.
The host for both evening performances will be Heather McLeod, co-host of “Voyage North” on CBC. She also will do live segments from Fort Frances for the program between 4-6 p.m.
Fort Frances Times
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