BUCKHANNON – The Colonial Arts Center Board has decided to reschedule its grand opening, moving it from mid-April to October.
The CAC board agreed to postpone the official grand opening of the center during their April 4 meeting. President of the CAC board John Waltz said he wanted to schedule the grand opening for a time when it would be in a complete state.
“When we thought about having this opening, we thought the seating might be installed in two years or something, and it’s going to be a lot sooner than that,” Waltz said. “We all discussed quickly about whether it made more sense to allow our donors and others to see the space complete during the grand opening.”
Waltz said the grand opening committee is considering an October time frame for the new grand opening.
“Randy [Sanders, city recorder] also talked a little bit about groups like BCT and others perhaps being able to perform or being present at that event, and we didn’t think we could pull that off in three weeks,” Waltz said. “We’ll have some shows up and some things happening that might make that little more possible. We think we would have a better chance of booking anything ahead of time.”
There are also other events taking place during their original date, April 15.
“We also came to realize there were a couple of conflicts going on with that date, with the Hall of Fame banquet at the college, spring weekend for Greek Life and others will be in town,” Waltz said. “There will also be a fashion show going on right at the grand opening time.”
Board member Erika Kolenich said she didn’t think the grand opening should occur until everything was ready in the building.
“There was also a brief conversation about how it seemed weird to have the grand opening when the seating wasn’t there and how it’s a ‘grand almost opening,’ so it might just be better to announce it as a grand opening when everything’s actually finished,” Kolenich said.
Consultant k.b. saine said the time from April to October is going to be a “preview season” at the CAC, so the space will still be used, and performances will still take place.
“This is a countdown to the opening so people can keep thinking about your efforts in terms of fundraising and what that would allow us to,” saine said. “This preview season is a taste of what’s to come and it gives us a chance to tell people to come back for our grand opening.”
