We are only a week removed from “Crooked Rivers’ Sisters Three,” an event that culminated last weekend after more than four years of community vision and effort. At this point, those involved are simultaneously tired and exhilarated. Just thinking about what happens next, hurts. But thinking about the future is necessary, pain or no pain.
When plans for “Crooked Rivers” were in their infancy, a wise person that had been a part of a similar project in another community offered this thought: if you want to attract corporate donors and get supporting grants on a large scale, you must first be successful on a local scale. “Crooked Rivers” organizers took him at his word. While it’s true that local businesses and governments, as well as private individuals, supported “Crooked Rivers” wholeheartedly, the time to make the transition may be here. The transition to what? – you might ask.
If we can, let’s think back to some of the points made when I began writing here. Cultural or heritage tourism means big money for both travelers and hosts. It amounts to increased dollars in local tax coffers, more revenues and profits for local businesses, and more jobs and opportunities for local residents. At the time, I seemed a lone voice singing down the well. However, time and circumstances have added more voices and even harmony to this song. We now know that events like “Crooked Rivers” are possible and can be done excellently in our community; we have the talent and the resources to replicate this event for years to come. We have no reason to turn away from any opportunities that “Crooked Rivers” might create for us. While we congratulate ourselves for our first success, the time to take a look at the horizon has come.
It is difficult to say what the process of envisioning our future will entail or to even begin to suggest what we will see on the horizon. I can say that we need to find unity and resolve as we move forward and whatever considerations are necessary to make the efforts of those visionaries that started this journey our highest priority need to be made. Only then will we find the next chapter to our story on the Crooked River.
Lisa Allen’s Dance Works will celebrate its 10th Annual Showcase, “Time Warp,” a delightful combination of dance, music and lights, in the CCHS Auditorium on Saturday (May 27) at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Call Lisa Allen's Dance Works at 912-673-9161 for tickets and information.
Students aged 8-14 can now register for “Schoolhouse Rock, Live! Jr.,” which will be performed at the end of the Camden Summer Theatre summer camp. All rehearsals and performances for CST will be at the CCHS Auditorium, May 23 – June 16, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. weekdays. Call 912-729-7463 for registration information.
Opportunities for this week and the future: “Barefoot in the Park,” through 5.21 at Alhambra Dinner Theatre; “The Falsettos” through 6.3 at Professor Plum’s Playhouse; catch JSO and JSYO in their 13th annual showcase performance on Friday, 5.12 at TUC; jazz and pop music aficionados will want to see British star Jamie Cullem at the Florida Theatre on Friday, 5.12; view a noteworthy collection of American painters and sculptors at the Jacobsen Gallery of American Art, the first new gallery at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens since 1992, through 5.31; the longest running Broadway show, “Phantom of the Opera,” opens at TUC on 5.17 and runs through 6.3.
If you have ideas or events you want me to share with readers, send me a note at pkraack1@tds.net.
5.10.06
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