Christmas festival leaves teams homeless
Coaches understand the importance of Waldorf event
By Bob Fenske
Of The Summit
FOREST CITY - The annual Christmas with Waldorf festival is truly a total campus affair.
Virtually every student connected with arts like music, theatre and art is involved in the annual concert. Food service employees and students provide the Scandinavian dinner. Heck, even athletes play a role in the festival that takes place this weekend by giving up their home gym for five days.
"I know there are a lot of places where we wouldn't get this kind of cooperation,” said Blair Buffington, the director of choral activities who serves as the artistic director for the concerts that will be held Saturday and Sunday in the Hanson Fieldhouse. “The support we get from athletics is in a lot of ways phenomenal.”
The weekend celebration kicks off with the traditional Scandinavian Dinner at 5 p.m. on Saturday, followed by a 7:30 p.m. concert in the Fieldhouse. The dinner and concert flip-flop on Sunday, with the concert beginning at 3 and the dinner to follow at 5:30 p.m.
But rehearsals for the concert move into the gym on Thursday, which means Waldorf's basketball teams must scramble to find practice facilities for five days. In past years, the Warriors have practiced either at Forest City High School or the Civic Auditorium.
“It's just part of the deal,” Waldorf men's basketball coach Chad Brown said, “and we know how important this festival is to the college. As long as we can find a gym - and in this town that's a little easier than in most - we'll be fine.”
Brown is a little more fortunate than his counterpart, Waldorf College women's coach Denny Jerome. Both Warriors team will play in Cedar Rapids tonight (Wednesday), but while the women play a home game next Tuesday, the Waldorf men are off until a Dec. 13 game against Grinnell.
“You still need to practice, but like I said, we understand the importance of the concert to Waldorf,” Brown said. “We'll find a gym and go from there.”
Tickets for the concert are free while the Scandinavian Dinner is $17 per person. To reserve tickets for either the concert, dinner or both, call 585-8142 or visit Waldorf's website at www.waldorf.edu for a registration form.
Story created Dec 03, 2008 - 15:51:25 CST.
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