Great railway festival Saturday!  I loved all of the civil war vendors, reenactors, the “food court” and the cannons firing on the Museum lawn.  The Museum was packed!  Having the cavalry there was also pretty neat.  I admire that all of those folks on the Museum lawn put up with the heat in order to bring a little life to the history there.  I’d upload some pics but my camera seems to be MIA.  I had it with me on election day and haven’t seen it since.  I did shoot a couple on the phone but they’re crappy so no pics. 

The Museum was really, really busy (I did get the book for the contest winner) and I didn’t get to see much of the new espionage exhibt but here is the flyer for it.  Check it out!

Thanks to all of the City and HMI staff and our volunteers who made it happen.  I was very proud of the event, even if the WaPo didn’t even mention it in their “going out guide”.  Thanks for that dudes.  Randolph was on the rampage over that and I expect they’ll hear from us…:)

So, the Hylton Performing Arts center had their grand opening this weekend.  I have mixed feelings about it. 

On one hand, I’m not really a fan of the City’s financial involvement in a project like that.  I’ve had people ask me if I would lead an effort to get the City out of our involvement and I won’t.  I don’t like it but a deal is a deal and I don’t want to the City to have the reputation for going back on our word.

On the other hand, the place is amazing.  I’m not a huge theater junkie but the acoustics in the Merchant (Main) Hall are astonishing.  The performances Saturday night were truly next-level stuff and not something you see around here every day.  Gershwin is among my favorites and the program was heavy with his music so I loved it.

The Gregory Family theater, which is a smaller venue is very classy and intimate.  I saw Vpstart Crow there on Sunday and the Community Chorale in the Merchant hall.  Both were amazing.  I didn’t realize that there were so many in the chorale!  They looked great up on that stage too.  Everybody that sees the place (including some pretty staunch skeptics I saw on Sunday) all say the same thing:  I can’t believe that this is here.  I can’t either.   Jean and her staff deserve a ton of respect for pulling that off.  It’s a great facility and the opening weekend was fabulous.

While I was sitting in the Merchant Hall on Saturday night, I was musing about the names of those theaters.  Merchant.  Gregory.  Both families I know.   Been around awhile.  Community leaders.  Manassas families.  That makes me proud.