Artistic events ring in the annual reunion

This year’s fifth annual community-wide reunion will not only have booths set up for friends to reunite with old acquaintances, but also feature an artistic side to the day’s events on Aug. 18.

The Wyoming band Tris Munsick and the Innocents will play dance music and cover a wide variety of songs beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Oats Park’s Centennial Stage. Food and beverages will be available for sale, or concert goers may bring their lawn chairs and coolers.

Their show will keep the crowd dancing, drinking and having an overall good time during the August night.

On the other side of the park, the Oats Park Arts Center will have two new exhibits which open last weekend with a reception and talk.

The exhibits are Kirk Robertson’s “Homage to Collage: Mixed Media Works from Three Decades” and Jay Schmidt’s “The Middle of Nowhere: Recent Sculptures, Paintings and Collaborations.”

Robertson’s works are “flat” in frames with his older pieces composed of pictures and text (along with other sources) and taken from old magazines and books he found in the vintage or thrift stores.

This is the first show in the newly renamed Kirk Robertson Gallery (formerly known as the Classroom Gallery). Robertson, a founding member of the Churchill Arts Council, died in 2017.

Schmidt, who retired from Montana State University, puts his works into perspective: “These days I make art that addresses the contemporary issues of endless wars, economic injustice, environmental destruction and political dysfunction. But my ultimate goal is to make good paintings and sculptures through a process that involves not just subject matter, but formal concerns, technical skill and intellectual rigor, as well as a fair amount of intuition, outrage and humor.”

Friday, Aug. 17, begins this year’s reunion with a Farmers Market on East Center Street and a gathering at the Fallon Theatre, while on Saturday, Aug. 18, a breakfast begins the day at the William N. Pennington Life Center followed by a Show-n-Shine Car Show and Antique Tractors, an open swim and class reunions.

Tours and activities planned for the day include the Churchill County Museum, Fallon Theatre, the Old High School, library, the fire department, the Douglass House, the Old Post Office, Cottage Schools and a chat with Mayor Ken Tedford at the Fallon City Hall.

The William N. Pennington Life Center will also host a Sunday breakfast.

For information on the reunion and community activities, call 775-423-5465 or go to the Fallon Churchill County Community Reunion Facebook page.