Last Sunday evening, we attended the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra’s “A Very Merry Holiday Pops” concert at the Midland Theatre in downtown Newark, Ohio and we are so glad we did.  The music was wonderful!  The conductor, Russel C. Mikkelson, Music Director did a fine job in communicating the songs and sharing some informational tidbits on each.  They opened with “A Christmas Festival of Carols” and my personal favorite songs of the night were “Appalachian Carol”,” A Charleston Christmas”, and “The Skaters Op. 183”.  Two local high school choirs joined the stage after intermission and they were impressively talented; the students clearly were enjoying themselves, which contagiously spread to the audience in the enjoyment of their performance.  A special surprising treat was when the Granville High School Symphonic Choir and the Newark High School Choir surprisingly whipped out kazoos to play along with the Theme from “Elf”.  This was the first time that my parents heard the NGSO and they were so pleased with the concert that they have decided to attend more NGSO concerts in the future!    We are thankful to have enjoyed another joyful and good spirited performance in an Ohio theatre this Christmas season.  Merry Christmas, everyone!  

We visited the Newark Downtown Historic District of Newark, Ohio last Friday evening by stopping at River Road Coffee for some frozen cookies and cream beverages that we thoroughly enjoyed while walking through the Canal Market District where we picked up some CMD souvenir gifts for a family member, who also loves visiting the CMD.

We were able to park on the Downtown Newark Square, which provided a convenient place to walk to the CMD, leave our purchases stored in the car, and then walk to The Midland Theatre. This night, July 12, 2024 was the first of their annual “Summer Movie Series” and much to our delight, they were playing, “Jaws” on the big screen!

We learned from the volunteers and staff that the attendance for “Jaws” was the most they have ever had for a Summer Movie Series event. We paid $5 in cash for each of us, but the tickets were also available online or by phone as well. Licking County Seniors (60+) were able to see the movie free of charge and students 18 and under for $3- what a deal!

This was quite a treat, as not only did we enjoy viewing one of our favorite thriller films, but also we enjoyed it with a vocally responsive crowd of people. For example, some young men seated behind us were seeing it for the first time and it was fun to hear them speculate on what was going to happen next! Lastly, but certainly not least, the beautiful almost 2,000 seat theatre was originally built in the 1920’s and has such lovely design and architectural charm that truly added to the ambiance of our experience.