Marion Music Hall Continues With Improvements

Marion’s benevolent Godmother, Elizabeth Taber, would be delighted. In 1885, one of her most significant gifts to the town – the Music Hall on Front Street at the entrance to the village – was begun. It was her desire to provide the citizens of Marion with a suitable home for theatrical and musical performances to enhance the cultural life for townsfolk. It has done its job with vitality through the years, while also serving as a home base for the V.F.W. and more recently, the Council on Aging.

Years ago a woman, who chose to remain anonymous, restored the Music Hall and established an endowment fund to cover costs of maintenance and capital improvements moving forward. An advisory committee, appointed by the Selectmen, attends to the business of managing and overseeing the activities that fill the hall on a daily basis, and provides an on-going list of projects to keep the building well-used and maintained. One of the members of the Music Hall Advisory Committee is Frank McNamee, who is also president of the Sippican Historical Society. Frank keeps a very close eye on the Music Hall as one of our town’s architectural treasures, and works very closely with the Town Facilities Manager, Shaun Cormier, who is especially proud of the Music Hall.

The Board of Selectmen recently authorized a long-time need for window treatments to darken the main room. Last week, this dream became a reality. Lynn Crocker, another member of the Music Hall Committee and an interior designer by profession, collaborated with Melinda Eaton of Mattapoisett, a renowned provider of custom-designed window treatments, to research and select the best answer to the Music Hall’s needs. Lynn described their challenge. “We wanted a window treatment that was architecturally compatible with the turn-of the-century structure while also allowing for easy controls for a variety of occasions.”

The results are impressive. The shutters are built of fine quality teak with a finish that matches all the stained woodwork in the main hall. The six large windows can now proudly darken the hall for movies, PowerPoints, and meetings. Also in the future will be changes to the stage so as to better accommodate concerts and theatrical performances.

The Music Hall Committee is sure that Elizabeth Taber would break into one of her rare smiles if she were here to cast her approval.

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