There was much joy and a celebratory mood at the United Church on Sunday, Sept. 13, when the Klaglahachie Fine Arts Society held an hour-long celebration of the completion or the renovations at the auditorium with elevated seating and new furnishing.
Chairman of the society Richard McKelvie gave a brief speech at the opening of the celebration thanking all the people contributing to the renovations and to the fundraising effort, which made it possible.
McKelvie said Klaglahachie had a goal of “improving the lives of the people it touches” and added that the new auditorium would help achieve that goal in a much better way.
Then the choir of the Klaglahachie Society performed several musical pieces from “The Fiddler on the Roof”, “Sound of Music” and “”Anne of Green Gables”, with MCKelvie giving thank you messages between the songs.
Among the people who McKelvie thanked were six volunteers, inmates at the Pe Sakastew Centre who provided the main labor force for the renovations. Three of the volunteers present at the ceremony also thanked the society and the Ponoka community for welcoming them and for appreciating their work.
Members of the society, a representative of the Red Deer Presbitary and the executive director of the Pe Sakastew Centre also made short speeches congratulating the accomplishment.
McKelvie said in an interview that a good theatre needed three basic features, good sound, good lighting and good sightlines. He said with the elevated seating, they had improved both the acoustics and the sightlines and they were in the process of improving the lighting with an added 12 installations of led light bulbs on top of the existing 18.
The renovations were funded by money raised by the society, matched by the Ponoka County and the sum of that amount matched by the province’s Community Enhancement Facility Program. The society gathered $30,000, with the county adding a similar amount and the province contributing $60,000.
All in all, the renovations are reported to have cost some $130,000 with the seating capacity of the auditorium now standing at 319.