"We would love to see all supporters of the arts and the Grove Theater join us for the upcoming events in October, which will raise funds not just for the Historic Grove Theater, but for the Grove Center and the local arts community as a whole." Joy Bonamarte, executive director of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, said in a report by The Mountain Press about the theater's new mural design announcement in late September.
Her quote explains this month at the Grove Center. From October 8 through October 30, the Historic Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road has an event on four weekends in a row. On a calendar these look like a comedy festival, a dinner, a pumpkin day, a play and a concert. Read side by side, they look more like one campaign. A small group of neighbors is using a single month to pay for the next chapter of one of Oak Ridge's oldest commercial corners.
Who is behind the push
The mural announcement names the partnership. It describes the project as a joint effort of Friends of the Historic Grove Theater, the Grove Center merchants and the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, working "to build a new future for the Grove Center."
The merchant group is small. The Grove Center's current directory lists three tenants: ORCMA, Oak Ridge Floral and The Grove Barbershop. Friends of the Grove Theater calls itself a nonprofit fundraising group. It supports free community use of the building and pays for repairs and capital improvements, and it does not own the theater. The owner is High Places Community Church. The church bought the theater in 2004, when it sat abandoned and was slated for demolition. Volunteers restored the original theater space and turned several of the old movie rooms into performance and classroom spaces, with the goal of making the theater a free venue for the community.
That model is what makes October matter. A venue that stays free to use needs money from somewhere else. This month, most of it is meant to come from the people who buy tickets.
The building has done this before
The Grove has been a gathering place since the city was built. The National Park Service lists Grove Center among the Manhattan Project-era shopping districts that supplied goods, services and entertainment to Oak Ridge's fast-growing population. The park's wayside sign names some of the original stores, including Tulip Town Super Market, Wender's Men's Shop and Burton's Shoe Renewery. It also records that the 1,000-seat Grove Theater opened on September 28, 1944, and showed movies and hosted concerts.
The supermarket and shoe shop are long gone. The October plan swaps retail for arts programming as the reason to drive to Randolph Road. The theater's own event listing calls the Grove Center part of "Oak Ridge's arts district."
Four weekends, in order
October 8 to 10: the 6th Annual Secret City Improv Festival. The theater says this year's lineup is a record: 38 improv teams and more than 150 performers, coming from as far away as Juneau, Alaska; Boston; Orlando; and Los Angeles. Shows start at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Saturday has a 3:15 p.m. matinee, the Slayden Intensive Showcase at 5 p.m., an Early Show at 6 p.m. and the Grand Finale at 8 p.m. The festival's website notes that some of its pages are still being updated, so check times there before you go.
October 16: the first Oak Ridge Harvest Table. This is a black-tie dinner with a 1940s and '50s theme, and guests are invited to dress in period costume. Doors open at 5 p.m. for refreshments and behind-the-scenes tours of the theater led by Friends of the Grove. A seated dinner catered by Fire & Salt starts at 6 p.m., with one drink ticket per seat and live music. Seating is capped at 100, and proceeds go to the local arts community.
October 17: Fall Pumpkin Fest, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The day includes live music, an artist and craft fair, food trucks, trick-or-treating at Grove Center businesses, a petting zoo, and a pet costume contest and parade. Kids get free pumpkins to decorate while supplies last, and organizers strongly encourage preregistering. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., High Places Community Church runs a haunted house and seasonal activities for kids at the theater.
October 23 to 25: Theater 23 presents "Animal Farm." It is a radio-theater-style staged reading of George Orwell's fable. Shows are Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
The month ends on Friday, October 30 with Droves at the Grove, a free night of bands from 4 to 11 p.m.
What each ticket supports
The pricing follows the fundraising goal. Some events charge real money for a limited number of seats, and others are built to be easy to say yes to.
| Event | What it costs | Where the money is directed |
|---|---|---|
| Secret City Improv Festival | $10 Thursday, $20 Friday or Saturday, $30 weekend pass; Thursday free with a donation of four nonperishable food items and/or four clothing items | Donated food and half of Thursday's ticket proceeds go to the food pantry at Brysson's Closet; clothing goes to a local domestic violence shelter |
| Oak Ridge Harvest Table | Ticketed through Eventbrite, 100 seats, price not listed on the theater's page | Local arts community |
| Fall Pumpkin Fest | Admission fee required, amount not stated; Oak Ridge Floral centerpiece workshop $50 per person | SARG Inc., Grove Center merchants and arts community, Historic Grove Theater |
| "Animal Farm" | Pay what you can; all students free | Not specified |
| Droves at the Grove | Free | Not specified |
Pumpkin Fest spreads its money the widest. Proceeds go to SARG Inc., the Shelter Animals Rescue Group, and also to the merchants, the arts community and the theater. The Oak Ridge Floral workshop has two sessions of 15 people each. If you want a seat, sign up soon.
The mural ties the month together
The project that set all this in motion is going up on the front of the theater. Artist Bryan Wilkerson designed the mural, and a grant from the Oak Ridge Fund for Achieving Community Excellence, an affiliate fund of the East Tennessee Foundation, made it possible. Wilkerson drew on local stories, the theater's architecture and the spirit of the city. "My goal was to create a mural that feels deeply connected to Oak Ridge," he said.
Jim Rushton, president of the ORFACE board, said the board was excited to fund "a centerpiece for the revitalization of Grove Center." The Oak Ridger reported the rendering release on September 24.
The timing is still unsettled. The Harvest Table listing bills the October 16 dinner as the mural's debut unveiling, with a ribbon cutting. The September announcement said installation was underway, with completion "anticipated later this Fall." Either way, the façade on Pumpkin Fest Saturday should look different from the one people walked past in September.
Fitting the Grove into the rest of the month
Most Grove events leave room for other plans around town. On October 17, the Oak Ridge Farmers' Market runs from 8 a.m. to noon at Jackson Square, two hours before Pumpkin Fest opens. On October 25, the Sunday "Animal Farm" matinee starts at 2:30 p.m. The Oak Ridge Community Band's free Halloween Concert at A.K. Bissell Park runs 4 to 6 p.m. the same day, and children can trick-or-treat during intermission. The city's 44th Annual Children's Halloween Party is at the same park on Thursday, October 22, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Scooter's Coffee opened October 3 at 229 S. Illinois Ave., and it is a new stop for coffee on the way over.
The REAL ESTATE Office has worked in Oak Ridge since 2007, and we like seeing a corner like the Grove Center get attention again. If this October has you curious what your own home near Randolph Road is worth, ask us for a free home valuation. We're happy to talk it over, maybe after an evening at the Grove.
