The Garfield Center for the Arts’ marquee returned home Tuesday morning after a long hiatus; it was removed winter of last year.
The Center plans to light the marquee on First Friday, December 7. The celebration will include live music in the Kohl Lobby. It is also opening night of their holiday production, a dramatic re-imagining of Dylan Thomas’ classic poem, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, directed by Lucia Foster, and narrated by Tim Maloney, with musical accompaniment by Mickey Dulin,
bart stolp says
Finally the marquee is about to again give lustre and prominence to the Garfield Center which represents a symbol of tradition and history of Chestertown. But more importantly it signifies an important step forward into today’s world of entertainment -the arts, theater, music etc.
To complete this so elegantly revived focus point in the heart of our town, I like to express my support to add the proposed modern version of the letter board in form of a programmable screen . This will allow the Garfield Center to link its communication efforts to most of the communities major events and become an effective tool to invite visitors and residents to view and enjoy Chestertown’s numerous cultural activities. These activities will give new and much desired energy to the economic engine of our downtown . The Garfield Center and its energetic staff is fulfilling its mission well beyond Chestertown’s town limits. Let’s make sure to give them this powerful additional medium to benefit us all in growing our enjoyment of Chestertown.
If anyone still doubts the value of this sign I urge you to view the outstanding presentation of facts and benefits as detailed by Philip Dutton, Chesapeake Architects Inc. and the Garfield – tune into :
https://chestertownspy.com/2012/11/20/op-ed-the-garfields-marquee-and-screen-are-good-signs-for-chestertown-by-philip-dutton/
Cynthia Saunders says
As a Washington College student in the late 60’s I gleefully dodged in-house bats at the Prince Theater while watching the Friday night double feature horror shows. Much later, I took my daughter to see “Saturday Night Fever” and “Star Wars”, enjoying both the popcorn (always fresh!) and the fact that we only had to walk around the corner to view a current film. Then the theater closed and Carla Massoni opened her wonderful gallery and the lights continued to burn brightly on both the marquee and behind the theater’s marvelous High Street windows. Later still, Ron and Susan Kerns facilitated the full restoration of the interior of the theater, bringing it back to life and opening the door to the creation of a lively and varied arts venue in downtown Chestertown. I’ve lived for 32 years just around the corner on Queen Street and can attest to the beauty, energy and excitement the (now) Garfield Center brings to “our end of the block”…….when Evergrain’s baker is busy baking and Carla’s gallery lights are on and window displays are lit up at the “Weekend Gallery” and the “Vintage Gallery” next door and the beautiful bar at the Imperial Hotel is full and the lobby of the Center is illuminated, showing it off as the perfect little jewel box it is, turning the corner onto lower High Street lifts the spirit for sure! The theater and other noted businesses occupy the block where commercial and residential entities meet in the Historic District, to date, most harmoniously. Increasingly, the residential portion contains many houses which are occupied only seasonally or sporadically, leaving the area mostly dark and lit only by street lights at night……..the computer-generated “show” produced by Chesapeake Architects perfectly illustrates the impact of the illuminated marquee and interior of the Garfield Center, bringing life and liveliness to this block closer to Chester River. Contrastingly, when all the lights are off, High Street presents a long dark path “uptown.” The theater, hotel and other businesses already provide the core of a revitalized and enlarged business district on High Street and I feel strongly that the proposed “adventure in updated signage” will help to bolster that process for the rest of the town as well.