An appetite and maybe a covered dish are appropriate for a picnic on the grounds following the only summer worship service. The Christmas Eve service requires bulky attire, since there is no heat or electricity. Spots of once-dripping wax can be found on hymnal pages, since carols are sung by the light of hand-held candles. It is not possible to light the six surviving kerosene … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past: Four different “dead guys” delivered brief, breathless performances
PART 2 of summer musicals in Spring Grove Ye Olde Gray Barn, for the past 41 Spring Grove summers, has been the venue for annual musical theatre productions. Don Vesterse performed in the first 16 shows, the first of 80 lifetime performances in three states. He christened the barn (as a stage) with a bottle of champagne in 1979. There have been approximately 166 barn … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past ‘Olde’ barn has hosted horses and hoofers for 41 summers
“Ye Olde Gray Barn” is not gray, but black. It is the “Gray barn” because the functional facility for draft horses was loaned by Dr. Jim and Karen Gray to an ambitious group of citizens, who in 1979 staged Annie Get Your Gun, the first of the often-acclaimed summer musicals in Spring Grove. Horse stalls have become dressing rooms every summer for 41 musicals – believed to be … [Read more...]