| Archived Media & Press |
| January 2, 2008 Atascadero News Report addresses feasibility of PAC for Atascadero by Ellen Holland click here |
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| Atascadero Performing Arts Center Committee PO Box 690 Atascadero, CA 93423 805.423.0329 info@atascaderopac.org |
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| May 20, 2008 San Luis Obispo Tribune Reviving Gilbert and Sullivan Here by Lon Allan |
Longtime friend Arnold Hoffman calls me occasionally with good ideas. Lately he’s
been after me to encourage the beginning of an annual Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
in Atascadero. About five years ago we tried to get an annual bluegrass festival
going up in Pine Mountain Stadium, but it just didn’t fly.
When I moved to Atascadero more than 40 years ago, my first thought was some
kind of open-air theater nestled somewhere in the hills close to the downtown.
Arnold said that an annual Gilbert and Sullivan Festival would put us on the map.
Such a show was staged on the edge of Atascadero Lake over the Fourth of July
weekend in 1917 when the musical “H. M. S. Pinafore” was staged on the deck of
a ship built just for the show.
To refresh your memory, in this Gilbert and Sullivan opera Little Miss Buttercup
cherishes a secret affection for Capt. Corcoran but cannot express it because of
the disparity in their stations in life. It has all the makings of a great soap opera,
including a character named Dick Deadeye.
“The night and the setting were perfect. A prettier lake, a prettier setting, a finer
ship could not be got together,” the Atascadero News reported.
The newspaper reported that at least 1,000 cars were parked at Atascadero Lake
and it took an hour for all of them to drive from the lake to Stadium Park for a
dance after the performance. At midnight there were 900 people still dancing in
Stadium Park.
Before the show, the Atascadero Community Band under the direction of A. J.
Dutton played for over an hour. Then, when it was time for the opera, the band
moved to the forward part of the boat, leaving the main and upper decks available
for the performers.
Earlier in the day, a pageant based on the history of California was staged in Pine
Mountain Stadium, but not until a parade was held winding its way around
Atascadero’s new civic center and California Gov. William D. Stephens had spoken
from the steps of the newly opened Mercantile Building—also known as “La Plaza.”
One of my favorite photos from that day is of an entire train, including the engine,
tender and close to 10 Pullman cars, parked on the Southern Pacific siding that
came right up to the Administration Building at that time.
It is that spirit of the pageant that Arnold would like to see revived here in
Atascadero, if not at the edge of Atascadero Lake, then maybe in the natural
bowl at Pine Mountain Stadium.
I was in the bowl two weeks ago only to be reminded of what a splendid facility it
is. Arnold Hoffman, Marj Mackey and members of the Atascadero Performing Arts
Center Committee are dancing around the edge of something good for Atascadero.
An annual pageant for Atascadero won’t happen over night. But it won’t happen
at all if we don’t begin thinking seriously about it and moving forward one step at a
time to bring all these forces together.
Lon Allan has lived in Atascadero for more than four decades. He can be reached
at leallan@tcsn.net.
been after me to encourage the beginning of an annual Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
in Atascadero. About five years ago we tried to get an annual bluegrass festival
going up in Pine Mountain Stadium, but it just didn’t fly.
When I moved to Atascadero more than 40 years ago, my first thought was some
kind of open-air theater nestled somewhere in the hills close to the downtown.
Arnold said that an annual Gilbert and Sullivan Festival would put us on the map.
Such a show was staged on the edge of Atascadero Lake over the Fourth of July
weekend in 1917 when the musical “H. M. S. Pinafore” was staged on the deck of
a ship built just for the show.
To refresh your memory, in this Gilbert and Sullivan opera Little Miss Buttercup
cherishes a secret affection for Capt. Corcoran but cannot express it because of
the disparity in their stations in life. It has all the makings of a great soap opera,
including a character named Dick Deadeye.
“The night and the setting were perfect. A prettier lake, a prettier setting, a finer
ship could not be got together,” the Atascadero News reported.
The newspaper reported that at least 1,000 cars were parked at Atascadero Lake
and it took an hour for all of them to drive from the lake to Stadium Park for a
dance after the performance. At midnight there were 900 people still dancing in
Stadium Park.
Before the show, the Atascadero Community Band under the direction of A. J.
Dutton played for over an hour. Then, when it was time for the opera, the band
moved to the forward part of the boat, leaving the main and upper decks available
for the performers.
Earlier in the day, a pageant based on the history of California was staged in Pine
Mountain Stadium, but not until a parade was held winding its way around
Atascadero’s new civic center and California Gov. William D. Stephens had spoken
from the steps of the newly opened Mercantile Building—also known as “La Plaza.”
One of my favorite photos from that day is of an entire train, including the engine,
tender and close to 10 Pullman cars, parked on the Southern Pacific siding that
came right up to the Administration Building at that time.
It is that spirit of the pageant that Arnold would like to see revived here in
Atascadero, if not at the edge of Atascadero Lake, then maybe in the natural
bowl at Pine Mountain Stadium.
I was in the bowl two weeks ago only to be reminded of what a splendid facility it
is. Arnold Hoffman, Marj Mackey and members of the Atascadero Performing Arts
Center Committee are dancing around the edge of something good for Atascadero.
An annual pageant for Atascadero won’t happen over night. But it won’t happen
at all if we don’t begin thinking seriously about it and moving forward one step at a
time to bring all these forces together.
Lon Allan has lived in Atascadero for more than four decades. He can be reached
at leallan@tcsn.net.