A big weekend coming at the Niswonger

This weekend will be one of the busiest of the entire year.  Friday night, a sold-out house will welcome those singing cowboys, “Riders in the Sky”, as they salute the King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers.

This talented quartet of cowboys has been doing Western music and comedy the “Cowboy Way” since 1977. I got re-introduced to them nearly two years ago when they were hosting the Grand Ole’ Opry.  We were fortunate to be sitting on the stage, and as they walked off the stage to give way to singer Alison Krauss, I re-introduced myself to these Cowboys and asked if they would like to come to Van Wert, Ohio (again).  Now, nearly two years later, they will take our stage to a sold-out crowd.

They had performed in Fountain Park nearly 12 years ago. Hot off their recording for the movie Toy Story (remember “Woody’s Roundup?”) they came to be a part of our Fountain Park Summer Music Series. Their new show features a salute to Roy Rogers and involves film clips and other material that lends itself to be more effective indoors. Riders in the Sky is the only group given permission by the Roy Rogers estate to show clips of his movies for the public.

Although we don’t have any seats to sell in advance for the Riders in the Sky concert on Friday, there could be a handful become available that night.  The box office opens at 6:30 p.m. when the Grand Lobby opens. If you want to get in, you might be first in line and take advantage of this opportunity, if it comes available. I hope to see you ‘round the campfire Friday night!

After we clean the stage and house from the Riders in the Sky concert (I hope their horses don’t leave us a mess), we will start preparing for a big daytime event at the Niswonger. We call it “Van Wert Blooms.”  It is a joint venture with the Master Gardeners of Van Wert and features five outstanding speakers on many gardening topics.

The featured speaker is P. Allen Smith of PBS TV’s long running show: “Garden Home”.  P. Allen leads off the day with an hour-long fascinating talk and slide show presentation at 9 a.m. Saturday. He will sign books in the lobby following his presentation.

Other outstanding speakers throughout the day are Irvine Etienne, who works at the Indianapolis Museum of Art designing and maintaining its plant and garden areas. Amanda Thomsen is another speaker who comes from Chicago, where she is a landscaper and author of several books, including Grocery Gardening. Barbara Wise is from Nashville, where she also writes for magazines and recently published her first book Container Gardening for All Seasons. Maria Zampini is an author, speaker and consultant for garden related products for plant development for the Agricola Management Group, the exclusive licensee of the HGTV Home Plant collection. Lastly, Pam Bennett is the State Master Gardener volunteer coordinator and horticulture educator and director for The Ohio State University.

The day will be filled with education and fun facts for anyone interested in gardening and landscape work; from the beginner to the expert!  Due to the enormous response to this event, we have opened seating in the balcony for a reduced cost to just the lectures. Call the box office for details.

We at the Niswonger have been privileged to work with Mrs. Louise Hartwig and an outstanding committee of Master Gardeners from Van Wert County. They have organized this wonderful event and should be thanked for their tireless efforts in putting this together.

We then clean the dirt off the floors and stage to make way for the very popular Texas Tenors. These three singers have been sold out at the Niswonger since last fall. They will present a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee concert to finish off our 2015-16 Community Concert Series.  What a way to go out: A sold-out show featuring the Texas Tenors, fresh off an Emmy Award-winning PBS special and many successful national tours. These three guys are not only outstanding singers, but also great entertainers.

As a special thanks, we are holding a pre-concert reception in the First Federal Lecture Hall for all extra supporters of this year’s Community Concert Series. Flour Loves Sugar and Brewed Expressions will provide the goodies to enjoy before the concert. This begins at 2 p.m. when the lobby opens. This extra support helps keep our series as affordable as possible and we want to show our appreciation to these fine folks.

Then, just before we begin the Texas Tenors concert, we will unveil our new Community Concert Series for 2016-17. A preview video and recognition of our sponsors will take the stage.  I can’t wait to let you know who we have on next year’s series. One of my all-time favorites will be coming to the Niswonger! No doubt you will have favorites too!  I invite you to come to this exciting announcement and spectacular show with the Texas Tenors.

A big weekend? You betcha!

FINÉ.