Sesquisaywhat?

It is a huge project to download pictures from my new waterproof camera, so I'm taking this break in productivity to post about LAST weekend, instead. From an unexpected Facebook source, I learned that the town of Mechanicsville was having a "citywide garage sale". So we slept in, met for brunch, and arrived in Mechanicsville about 2pm, only to discover that all but 3 homes had closed down their garage sales already. We did manage to each find a "treasure" at the few places with sales: Dad got a couple wrenches, Harrison got some awesome Pokemon cards and an old fashioned key, Mom got a couple knick knack items, I got a couple hanging storage racks for Harrison's video games, and Julio got a special collectible gift for one of his nephews.

The garage sale not being quite the big event we had anticipated, we decided to head over to Clarence, to see if the Debbie Harms Auditorium might be unlocked (Clarence was celebrating their sesquicentennial that weekend), so I could show off all the improvements that have been taking place this summer.

On the way out of Mechanicsville, we stopped at a house with a yard that was literally littered with lawn mowers. Julio spoke to the man there, and ended up buying a fertilizer/seed spreader for $3.

When we got to Clarence, we were pleased to note people walking right into the auditorium. We knew it was going to be 'on display', and were glad it wasn't locked up. When we walked in, one of my students handed us programs - programs?

It turns out, we got there just 15 minutes before their "Sesquicentennial Pageant" was to start - Vicky Anderson was there, Linda Mingst and her husband, Bob the Builder, were working on last minute issues, and one of my main techies came running over to tell Dad and me how glad he was that we could make it. Ulp. How could we not stay for the show?

we took some pictures with my cell phone - hence the low quality (not enough light plus low resolution)

acting like we meant to be there all along ("we wouldn't have missed it!")

extra special treat to see Vicky there

Mom talking to one of Bobbi's former students

some of the actors on a platform where the orchestra pit usually is

they used part of Dad's walls from the spring play, and our hideous fake trees from the musical

funniest act of the night: The Cherry Sisters revisited, including the throwing of fruit

It was a very nice program, and it is super exciting to see all the improvements in the auditorium. It sounds strange to describe; all the walls and the ceiling are being painted black (they got the top part painted - they need a special primer for the ugly brown bricks on the lower half of the walls, but assure me they can do them, too, this summer). The bleachers are painted black with slate grey tops (for safety and to disguise dust and foot dirt) the sound dampening panels are covered in deep purple and slate grey (they call it silver) and the new curtain which will hopefully be installed before summer is over will be a deep eggplant color. We are "splurging" on protective bags for the new curtains, to hopefully keep them safe during the off-season times.

It sounds strange, I know, and it's hard to imagine. In fact, when I asked them to paint everything black, I got some strange looks of doubt, but they went ahead with my request in spite of their reservations, and everybody who sees it is thrilled and says it's really starting to look like a theater in there. I truly believe Bobbi would be proud. I want to make sure it is a space worthy of her name before we finally put up the plaque.