In the words of that famous Frankie Valli tune, \u201cOh What a Night!\u201d\u00a0 (I think it\u2019s actually called \u201cDecember \u201963\u201d).\u00a0This is what we experienced this past Saturday with the Niswonger Ten Year Gala celebration.\u00a0For those of you who were able to attend, I\u2019m sure you would concur.<\/p>\n
We started out with 200 people neatly tucked into Willow Bend Country Club to enjoy a great dinner and hear from local sponsors, visitors, and even from Bernadette Peters and Maestro Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops.\u00a0It was wonderful to hear from those who were integrally involved in the building of the Niswonger as well as those who have bought into the operations during our ten years of existence.\u00a0I always want to remember those who contributed in so many ways to make our existence possible.\u00a0Our appreciation is reminded every time we present an event and step into the building.<\/p>\n
As we were enjoying our time at Willow Bend Country Club, many others were gathering in the Van Wert Federal Grand Lobby and Keltner Upper Lobby to enjoy music, fellowship, and event night pictures.\u00a0Then at 8 p.m., the stage filled with some of the most amazing musicians of the Boston Pops Orchestra and we were treated to some wonderful music of Gershwin.\u00a0I think people enjoyed the first half even more than they had thought.\u00a0The sound was magical!<\/p>\n
After a 20-minute intermission, Bernadette Peters lit the stage with her electric personality, gown, hair and voice.\u00a0She is the entire package, which is probably why she has been so popular on stage, in film, and TV.\u00a0 At the end of her segment, The Pops kicked into \u201cThe Stars and Stripes Forever\u201d as streamers filled the air during the finale, dropping delightfully on audience members\u2019 heads who were giving a standing ovation.\u00a0It was certainly the appropriate way to end a gala concert.<\/p>\n
But we still weren\u2019t done.\u00a0Many made their way to the Wassenberg Art Center for our afterglow, enjoying food, music, drinks, and more fellowship late into the night.<\/p>\n
There are so many to thank that I think I will just mention our sponsors for the night.\u00a0If not for our three major sponsors this celebration would never have happened.\u00a0The Van Wert County Foundation, Central Mutual Insurance, and Scott and Nikki Niswonger once again stepped up to the plate and helped us make our gala the memorable event it was.\u00a0The Kenn-Feld Group also kicked in as a supporting sponsor to even make it better.<\/p>\n
I realize this was an expensive ticket for some and it may have precluded some from actually being able to take part.\u00a0This is my only regret.\u00a0But Saturday night was for a big time dress-up celebration in a big city style.\u00a0 Now that we had our fun, we will get back to bringing the arts to all people.<\/p>\n
We will do that real soon too!\u00a0 Two more Niswonger events occur this month: David Phelps Good Friday concert on April 14 and then Mutts Gone Nutts with comedian Robert Post on April 30.\u00a0 Now there are a couple inspirational and fun shows!\u00a0 Unfortunately, both shows are nearly sold out.\u00a0 (Unfortunate only if you haven\u2019t yet gotten a ticket.)\u00a0I do believe there are about 50 seats remaining for this very special Good Friday concert with David Phelps.\u00a0This will be a great Holy Week concert.\u00a0I can\u2019t wait!<\/p>\n
The Mutts show and Robert Post will be a most enjoyable and funny show. I\u2019ve always enjoyed Post, and who doesn\u2019t love dogs on stage!\u00a0I currently see 35 seats remaining for this one, so get to the box office or online quickly so you can enjoy these wonderful concerts and shows.<\/p>\n
Thank you once again to all who had anything to do with our Ten Years of Wow! Gala celebration.\u00a0 It truly was quite a night!\u00a0 Here\u2019s to an entirely new decade of great performances at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio!\u00a0 I\u2019ll see you soon.<\/p>\n
FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the words of that famous Frankie Valli tune, \u201cOh What a Night!\u201d\u00a0 (I think it\u2019s actually called \u201cDecember \u201963\u201d).\u00a0This is what we experienced this past Saturday with the Niswonger Ten Year Gala celebration.\u00a0For those of you who were able to attend, I\u2019m sure you would concur. We started out with 200 people neatly tucked […]<\/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-86028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-05 01:03:40","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\/86028","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=86028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86028\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}