WINSLOW — Several local entertainment businesses are pooling their resources and time to benefit Winslow High School’s performing arts programs this Sunday.
A Day in the Parks for the Arts will be held from noon to 10 p.m. in Fort Halifax Park. Six local bands will play along with Winslow High musical performers, raffle tickets for a variety of prizes will be sold, and several vendors will be on hand.
“We’ve been running around like chickens trying to get the final touches done,” said Robin Thompson, owner of Superior Event Sound, of Winslow. Superior Event Sound and Sky Blue Project Studios, also of Winslow, and Mike Davis Entertainment, of Waterville, helped organize the event.
Thompson said she has a daughter at Winslow High who’s active in music and theater productions at the school. Talking with her drama teacher, Jennifer McCowan, last year, Thompson learned about the funding problems of Winslow’s extracurricular programs.
“We want to see these kids have the same benefits that we had,” Thompson said. “Band and chorus and drama clubs were a given for every school back in the day. You didn’t have to worry about funding.”
The daylong event is scheduled to start at noon at Fort Halifax Park. The first band to play is Norm and the Storm at noon. Members of Winslow High band, chorus and drama clubs will be playing along with the bands and performing skits between sets. The event is free for the public, but donations are welcome.
According to Thompson, McCowan and music teacher Brian Hutchinson, most of the money will finance stage upgrades, as the curtains don’t meet the fire code.
“We were told our old curtains aren’t fire-retardant,” McCowan said.
The fundraising event also will benefit the annual musical Winslow High puts on each fall, which features a collaboration between the school’s drama and band clubs. This year’s show probably will be “Into the Woods,” according to Hutchinson.
“It will most likely totally fund the musical,” Hutchinson said. “We’ll get the rights to perform it, but it will help with the set construction and materials.”
Thompson said the original plan was to get one band, maybe, to do a benefit show for a couple hours and sell raffle tickets. Once she started spreading the word, however, the response was staggering.
“Literally within 10 minutes I had six bands ready to go, donating all their time and performances,” Thompson said. “The fact that it has grown the way it has, that flabbergasted me.”
In addition to the free entertainment, a 50-50 raffle will be held to benefit the performing arts programs, as well as the sale of raffle tickets for a chance at a dozen gifts, including gift cards to be used at Hammond Lumber, Perkins Music House, Selah Tea and other places and two $100 scholarships to the University of Maine music camp.
Jesse Scardina — 861-9239
jscardina@mainetoday.com
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