ArtWalk At The Grand A Huge Success

Last night The Grand hosted our second big ArtWalk event and it was a huge success! We had about 300-400 folks come through our exhibit titled "Galveston Trees - Turnery Splendor" that featured hand turned wooden bowls and vases created by Galveston trees that had to be cut down following Hurricane Ike. Money raised from the sale of these bowls and vases will be used to purchase and plant new trees in Galveston.

The exhibit will be open tonight (Sun. Nov. 29th) and tomorrow (Mon. Nov. 30th) from 6-9pm if you missed it at ArtWalk.

And... The Gulf Coast Wood Turners group will present more bowls and vases created from Galveston trees at our ArtWalk event on April 17, 2010. (Just in time to celebrate Arbor Day 2010!) Join us for this event and help raise more funds to re-plant Galveston!

Galveston is an exciting place to be (and visit) right now. Everyone has a renewed sense of community, purpose and revitalization that makes for very postive energy to be around.

The Grand 1894 Opera House will be packed tonight and tomorrow with two performances by Texas favorite Willie Nelson and we will host City Ballet of Houston's The Nutcracker for the 25th year on Saturday and Sunday Dec. 12-13th. We also will feature our Nutcracker Afternoon Tea on Dec. 12th.

Another fantastic holiday treat we've just added.... the Broadway musical "Cats" will be at The Grand on Dec. 26-27th - a purrfect treat for all your visiting family and friends.

Hope to see you around town (and especially at The Grand!)

Smokey Robinson selling fast!

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that Smokey Robinson tickets are selling very quickly. We have very limited seating left - so go online at www.thegrand.com/SmokeyRobinson.asp as soon as possible or call 800-821-1894 to buy tickets.

Many other performances are also close to sell-outs - don't miss your chance at one-of-a-kind, world-class entertainment, right here on the Gulf Coast!

Pre-season happenings are ongoing at The Grand as well - right now we have the "Ike Challenge Quilts" presented by the Island Quilters Guild. They are on display (on stage!) on Friday Aug. 28th from Noon to 5pm, Saturday August 29th from Noon to 5pm and will also be presented as part of the City of Galveston's "Revival and Reflections" events marking the first anniversary of Hurricane Ike.

I urge you to come see these quilts and read the stories behind their creation - they are all very moving.

During the "Revival and Reflections" events - they will be on display Friday Sept. 11th from Noon to 5pm and then again as part of the Poetry Reading Evening that night from 7-9pm. The last chance to view them on stage at The Grand will be Saturday Sept. 12th from Noon-5pm. Visit http://www.galveston.com/ikeanniversary/ for a complete listing of Revival and Reflections events.

Kathy Van Dewalli, marketing director

The Shows Go On At The Grand!

It's hard to believe that it has almost been a year since Hurricane Ike postponed our 2008 Fall season! Since that time, The Grand has continued to clean up and repair from Ike's visit and we were very pleased to reopen on our 114th birthday (Jan. 3, 2009) - just three short months following the hurricane! As we've said around here - we were ready for performances, but not finished with our repairs.

Throughout the year we have continued with repairs, using the summer months to install a new hydraulic orchestra pit lift system, and to replace the damaged stage surface. We continue with final repairs to our Box Office as well as other cosmetic repairs.

We've just finished up with 13 performances of "Tuna Does Vegas" - and for those of you who missed "Tuna" this go-around, you missed a huge helping of laughter! Joe Sears and Jaston Williams added new characters and dialogue to this hilarious favorite - and kept the crowds laughing.

Next week (August 24th, 2009) our single tickets go on sale for the 2009-2010 season - and I urge you to get your tickets now - many of the shows have very limited single tickets - subscribers have snapped them up!

We open our season this year with Smokey Robinson on Friday September 18th at 8pm and he promises to be a sell out - so get your tickets today!!

And... we've just added a really fun performance to our schedule - The B-52s! This high energy group from the mid-70's will have you bouncing in your seat with hits "Rock Lobster," "Love Shack," "Deadbeat Club" and more! Spread the word on this one - it should be a blast!

Check out the rest of our fantastic 2009-2010 season at www.thegrand.com - and get down to The Grand today!

See you there!

Kathy Van Dewalli, marketing director