By Dale Bestul
Greetings sponsors, donors, and supporters of the Iola Scandinavia Musical Program and Auditorium Improvement Project.
It’s time to start planning for our annual musical. If you haven’t heard already, we will be presenting the musical Seussical Feb. 13-15. .We are two weeks into our rehearsals, and the kids are working hard and excited to once again put on an incredible performance. We have nearly 80 kids participating this year!
We are once again offering a sponsorship program for the musical. The success of this program has helped offset the costs of putting on the musical and has contributed $71,000 towards the Auditorium Improvement Project.
One thing of note, if you are planning on doing a $500-plus sponsorship and you would like to be included on the poster, we have a deadline this year of Dec. 15. We want to get the posters done and distributed earlier this year to promote the musical ticket sales. If you cannot get the sponsorship payment made by the 15th and still want to be included in the poster, please email me at dale@community-insurance.com, and I will add you to the list to be included. The deadline to be listed in the show program is Jan. 2, 2026.
Project status
Here’s a quick update on the auditorium project:
To date, including the $71,000 from the sponsorship program and donations, we have collected $337,190.22 out of our revised fundraising goal of $400,000. The response has been incredible! We are still accepting tax-deductible donations.
With the funds that we have collected here are the auditorium updates that have been completed as of today: curtains, lighting system, sound system, mics, sound treatments for the walls, loop system for the hearing impaired, sound and lighting control booth (part of the school entrance project), carpet replacement, live stream and recording video system, and director communication system.
Yet to be completed when additional funds are received: backdrop lighting, stage floor
video projection equipment, prop storage, and establish a musical program scholarship.
We can’t wait to show off our newly improved auditorium!
If you have any questions, please let me know.
I can’t thank the community enough for the incredible support of our musical program!
