Blog – Page 7 – Desboro Music Hall

Open House Success

Posted on September 7, 2015 by desboromh

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Open House. It was a very busy day, meeting neighbours and friends and curious passersby. We probably had around 200 people or so pass through our door (with a couple of repeats enjoying our fans and shade and snacks).

It was great to chat with people. It was also fun to hear from people who remembered what the church used to look like and hear the stories. We want to preserve some of the history of the church. It is a beautiful building and we want to acknowledge its heritage even as we remake it into something new.

Some of the crowd enjoying our Open House

Bill Walker, MPP and Larry Miller stopped by for a visit with the boys. — Bill Walker, MPP and Larry Miller, MP stopped by for a visit with the boys.

Thanks to all the people brave enough to get up on the stage and entertain us with a tune. We really enjoyed the music. (and the few quiet times when the boys were able to get up and jam with people) We had lots of positive comments about the Hall and are thankful for all the support from the community and beyond. As we go forward, it will take everyone’s support to get our endeavour up on its feet.

The Open House Team in our Desboro Music Hall shirts

For those of you who haven’t been able to make it out, here are a few before and after pictures to show you what we’ve done. (although you should still plan on coming by for a visit)

In the back, it might be harder to tell what we’ve done. We did paint the walls (they were actually a blue colour even if you can’t tell from the before picture), put in lights to replace the bare bulbs and added overhead fans. (They have already showed their worth during our Open House, which was a really hot and humid day. The fans kept the air moving, keeping us slightly cooler.) We also added a bar. But the most important thing we brought back was electricity, making it 200 amp service!

(As an aside, the before picture is from the day the boys took possession of the property)

At the front, we removed the red carpet and painted our stage black. We put in new stain glass windows. The church had taken out the stain glass windows and put them in the Grey Roots Museum so when we got there, the windows were covered in plywood. It was quite amazing that we were able to find stain glass that fit the size of windows and the curve that we had!

We kept the “holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty” because it was hand-painted and too beautiful to just paint over.

These are just a few of the changes we have done while trying to keep the heritage of the building. We still have lots to do so stay tuned for more changes and for our first event!

Open House

Posted on August 29, 2015 by desboromh

We know lots of you are curious, seeing all the activity at the building and we are here to satisfy that curiosity. There has been much happening lately and we’re making progress so we want to show it off a little. There is still lots to be done to get the building ready for a concert but people can still take a little peek. We thought the Desboro Fall Fair Day would be the perfect time since you’ll already be there for Fair Day, right??

So we have decided to open the doors to the building for an Open House on Sat Sept 5 from 12 noon – 4pm!

We invite you to come on inside, check out what we’ve done and see what our plans are. You can ask Joe or Phil any questions you might have. We’ll have an open mic (so you can try out the acoustics) and a few snacks to share. We even might have a few giveaways throughout the day. So mark it on your calendar, a week from today: Sept 5 from 12-4pm

We look forward to meeting everyone and sharing our vision.

Why we bought a church

Posted on July 28, 2015July 28, 2015 by desboromh

Thanks for all the support with liking our Facebook page, checking out the website and following us on twitter (@desboromusic). We are super excited to get things going but we still have a lot of logistical things to figure out and have a way to go before we can open our doors.

But in the meanwhile, we thought we would share a few of our ideas and plans to get everyone as super excited as we are.

So a bit of the back history. The church had been up for sale for a year. We had talked about turning it into a music hall when it first went up for sale but didn’t do anything about it. We realized that since the Community Hall had been torn down, the only place to perform was in the arena. And although the arena is nice because it is so big and can fit lots of people, the acoustics are not the best and even if you want a small gathering, you’re a little lost in the big echo-y space. So the church came up for sale and it just so happened that a year later we were in the right place to make an offer and we got it!

So onto the exciting part: our vision for this place. If everything works out, we would love to hold a concert about once a month. What kind of music, you ask. Well, we are thinking folk/country/bluegrass music, the kind of music we like and are passionate about; the kind of music we want to share with others to enjoy. We’d also like to showcase local talent. Then beyond that, we would love to have it available for the community to rent for such events as euchre tournaments or family reunions or whatever you would use a community hall for. It’s a beautiful building with great acoustics and we want to be able to keep it for the community.

Now our plans do take some time and we still have lots to do in the hall to get it ready for business. However we would love to hear from you. You can add your suggestions and comments below (or through our Facebook page or twitter feed). We want to hear how we can make this place work for you, too! We will be holding polls/contests on our site so please keep following us at DMH as we are working hard to get to our opening day!

Twitter world

Posted on July 27, 2015July 28, 2015 by desboromh

We’re now on twitter. Come follow us @desboromusic We’re not really techy people so this is a whole new world for us. We’ve got a lot to learn, along with a whole new language (tweets and hashtags included) and learning to write in 140 characters or less. But you’ll be able to get information much quicker especially when the music hall is up and running. So come join our twitter world.

We have power…almost

Posted on July 25, 2015September 7, 2015 by desboromh

The electricity is going back in! I’m sure everyone has noticed the work being done to the church. The electricity was cut off when the building was for sale so the boys are finally going to have lights again soon! And we won’t need the generator anymore. (thank goodness!). We just have to wait for Hydro to do their thing once all the wires are in and things have been inspected. Crossing our fingers everything comes together soon.