The Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group (CDG) today announced the date for the 6th Annual Uptown Theatre Honors.
The event will take place Saturday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m., at the First Street Community Center Uptown Theatre, 221 First St. NE, Mount Vernon. This year’s honorees include Myrt Bowers, Gwen Drahos, Randy Harman, Mike Smith, and Steve and Susan Maurice. The honors gala will include speeches, live musical numbers and much more. Tickets to the event are $25 at the door, and include a wine-and-appetizer reception beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The annual Uptown Theatre Honors, Mount Vernon’s version of the Kennedy Center Honors, was initially conceived through fundraising team the A-Go-Gos. The eight-person fundraising group is responsible for raising $17,000 for the First Street Community Center Uptown Theatre through the 2013 “Frank Benesh Memorial Uptown Theatre Telethon A-Go-Go!” The group also organized 2014’s “Las Vegas Karaoke Bingo A-Go-Go” and 2015’s “Frank Benesh Memorial Save the Traver Tapes Telethon A-Go-Go!” In 2019 the A-Go-Go volunteer team merged into the CDG volunteer pool, making the Uptown Theatre Honors an annual CDG event.
The Uptown Theatre honors is an annual event that celebrates leaders who have made a difference in the arts and culture communities of Mount Vernon and Lisbon.
“This year the Uptown Theatre Honors will be honoring six local men and women who have played a large part in the ongoing arts and cultural communities of Mount Vernon and Lisbon,” said Lisa White, Chair of the Uptown Theatre Honors volunteer committee. “These last few years have been hard on both communities. And although we can’t honor all those from the arts and culture community who are deserving, we do plan to take a moment within the event to remember many of our beloved community leaders who have passed in the last year, including two from the original Uptown Theatre Awards committee.”
Further information about the event is available through Joe Jennison at (319) 210-9935 or [email protected]; or Trude Elliott at [email protected]
About the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group (CDG)
The Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group (CDG), a Main Street Iowa organization, is a 501c6 nonprofit with a mission “to promote and develop the business community, including but not limited to the Main Street District, and enhance the quality of life in the communities we serve.” The CDG exists to improve the social and economic well-being of Mount Vernon and Lisbon by capitalizing on their unique identity, assets and character. Mount Vernon was selected as a Main Street community in 2008, and practices economic development within the context of historic preservation. In 2019, CDG and its 503 registered volunteers received the Spirit of Main Street Award from the Governor of Iowa.
