George Daily Auditorium Celebrates 25 Years
September 12th, 2022
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Very few communities the size of Oskaloosa have a community auditorium like George Daily.
George Daily Auditorium is celebrating its 25th year of bringing arts and entertainment to the community.
Besides a great lineup for their professional season, the Auditorium will be hosting a special time in Oskaloosa.
Andy McGuire recently took over the Executive Director position at George Daily Auditorium after the retirement of Randy Wright, who was instrumental in establishing the Auditorium as the premier place it is in the Midwest.
Andy started at the Auditorium in 2012, and his wife, Allison, joined the staff there in 2014. Allison now serves as Community Engagement and Education for the Auditorium.
Andy gave credit to Randy and Vicki Wright for their work. “We’re kind of standing on the shoulders of giants there. It’s not just Randy and Vicki; there were a lot of people who were part of that effort.”
World Fest is one of those things that the leadership at George Daily Auditorium can be proud of.
The George Daily has also helped spearhead the revitalization of the Vennard Amphitheatre as a venue to help bring more places to life.
World Fest, a feature from Arts Midwest, began in 2003 and served hundreds of thousands of individuals, with over 280 public performances.
Allison said Arts Midwest approached them in 2020 about being the World Fest site from 2022 to 2025.
Planning for World Fest has proven to be stressful as no one was certain what would be available due to the pandemic.
“So for our 25th season, we have essentially two seasons happening because of the way World Fest works,” explained Andy.
The groups associated with World Fest will be in Oskaloosa for a week, and visits will include community involvement.
Okra Playground is from Finland, and they will be in Oskaloosa beginning on Monday, September 19th, 2022, at Smokey Row; and will continue through the week with various public events and will wrap up with a full concert at George Daily Auditorium on Saturday evening, September 24, beginning at 7 pm.
In February, an Alaskan Inuit group will be at George Daily and Oskaloosa for another week of performance and community interaction.
On top of the World Fest will be the professional season, and those tickets are now available from the George Daily website.
Coming in the professional season is Forever Simon & Garfunkel on October 9th, Pamyua, the Lightning Thief, and Missoula Children’s Theater.
To lean more about everything happing at the George Daily Auditorium, visit them on their website https://georgedaily.org/ or on their Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeDailyAuditorium
