{"id":100622,"date":"2018-04-05T07:56:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T12:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=100622"},"modified":"2018-04-05T07:56:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T12:56:48","slug":"bridging-the-gap-from-pac-to-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/04\/05\/bridging-the-gap-from-pac-to-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging the gap from PAC to park"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are getting to the point where the Niswonger Performing Arts Center season is coming to an end, at least as far as our scheduled performances are concerned.\u00a0It would be easy to think that late April and the month of May are times of inactivity at the PAC.\u00a0Our final scheduled concert of this season is Bostyx on April 21.\u00a0It will be a great concert to finish the season, but we will actually be quite busy after that point.<\/p>\n

There are many concerts and events during this time that actually bring thousands of people to the Niswonger, many who have not yet been there before.\u00a0The Van Wert High School Drama Department is presenting Mary Poppins<\/em>, its spring musical, on April 12, 13, and 14.\u00a0I understand it will be quite a production.\u00a0Tickets are available at the Niswonger box office.<\/p>\n

The Van Wert bands and choirs are also preparing for spring concerts, which will all occur in the Niswonger Music Hall.<\/p>\n

Once we hit the month of May, dance recitals that draw thousands of locals and visitors to Van Wert take over the weekends.\u00a0This year, Kim Hohman\u2019s DanceWorks of Van Wert, Kristina\u2019s Dance Escape from St. Marys, and (new to the Niswonger this year) the Boyd Dance Studio from New Bremen will bring thousands of first-time visitors to town.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, my staff is running these events while I am busy working on a new season and planning for summer concerts in Fountain Park.\u00a0Our marketing team is putting together sponsors who wish to team with the Niswonger and learn about the new artists coming in 2018-19.\u00a0They are also busy selling memberships for those interested in supporting and receiving Niswonger benefits.<\/p>\n

This aptly bridges the gap from PAC to Fountain Park, which kicks off Friday, June 1, with Phil Dirt & the Dozers as part of the Peony Festival.\u00a0Then it\u2019s on to most Fridays in Fountain Park with exciting entertainment, music, food and fun!\u00a0\u00a0The full line-up of Fountain Park concerts is available at\u00a0vanwertcountyfoundation.org<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Look under the heading \u201cImpact\u201d and click on \u201carts\u201d for a full lineup and description of each concert.\u00a0Brochures and posters are also available at The Foundation office, 138 E. Main St., as well as the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n

Food vendors have been selected for the Fountain Park concerts and they will be notified and making their selection of concert in the near future.\u00a0\u00a0Hopefully, we won\u2019t need to be shoveling snow from the park by the time we get started!<\/p>\n

I want to mention one last event that will be occurring at the Niswonger on April 15 at 7 p.m.\u00a0\u00a0Former Major League Baseball star Darryl Strawberry will be a featured speaker at the Epidemic of Hope event sponsored by the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s office, the Van Wert Ministerial Association, and the Niswonger PAC.<\/p>\n

Strawberry and his wife, Tracy, have traveled the country telling his story of overcoming drug addiction that ended his once brilliant baseball career.\u00a0Free tickets for the event are available at the box office as well as participating churches.\u00a0We all know of the terrible opioid crisis that our country and especially Ohio has been affected by.\u00a0It is the hope that Darryl Strawberry\u2019s story will have a positive impact on especially the youth of our area.<\/p>\n

Everyone is welcome to attend this event on April 15 at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m.\u00a0\u00a0There will be other events occurring throughout the Van Wert, Paulding, and Mercer County area, leading up to the Niswonger event.\u00a0It is a pleasure to use our facility to help make our community a better place for everyone to live, raise families, and be entertained in safe environments.<\/p>\n

FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are getting to the point where the Niswonger Performing Arts Center season is coming to an end, at least as far as our scheduled performances are concerned.\u00a0It would be easy to think that late April and the month of May are times of inactivity at the PAC.\u00a0Our final scheduled concert of this season is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 01:38:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}