[00:00:00] Fuzz Martin: Happy holidays, everyone, and thank you for listening to Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. My name is Fuzz Martin, and this is a show where we feature the good stuff happening in our community. You want the gripes? You know where to find them, but it’s not here. You know what you can find, though? Positive people, events, and organizations right here in Washington County.
And this week, I have the trifecta. I’ve got people, I’ve got people talking about events, and those people are from an organization. Crazy how that works. This week, Leona Knobloch, the Executive Director at The Bend, and Shaun Tanner, the Marketing and Communications Director at The Bend, are coming to talk about their holiday events at The Bend.
Which is a great organization. There we go. See the trifecta. With that, here are 15 minutes on the 2024 holiday events happening at the Bend Theater with Leona Knobloch and Shaun Tanner right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
Leona, Shaun, I would venture to say that most people in Washington County are familiar with the Bend. Uh, it’s obviously has a rich history here in downtown West Bend, but can you share a bit about the theater? the journey it took to get here and how it’s evolved into what it is today.
[00:01:28] Shaun Tanner: Yeah, we, we kind of give a curtain speech before every show, and, kind of give the history of how it was built in 1929, the renovation happened in 2020.
Uh, we kind of tell the little not so funny joke about how we opened March 14th of, 20 and, closed March 15th of 20, but Yeah, but it’s, you know, again, it’s kind of the center of, of downtown, in my opinion. We have the, the city name on the blade, so.
[00:01:50] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, that was an unfortunate timing during the pandemic, but we’re here now, four almost five years later, and Things have seemed to be going in a much more positive direction for the Bend.
It’s holiday season right now. It’s time for the Bend to shine. You guys do a great job during the holiday season. What makes this time of year special for the Bend Theater and for your guests?
[00:02:14] Leona Knobloch: Well, we kick it off with, holiday events, starting from the lighting of the Christmas tree downtown, offering the movie to the community and sing alongs, all the way through the end of the season to our final New Year’s Eve event, so we have a lot going on, we’re decorated for the season.
And, um, people love to come and enjoy. And
[00:02:34] Fuzz Martin: it’s excellent, obviously having that right there in downtown West Bend. Uh, you have an awesome mix of holiday, classic Christmas movies. You have live performances, things like that. What goes into pulling together your. Thanks for joining us. What’s your role in
[00:02:49] Shaun Tanner: creating
[00:02:49] Fuzz Martin: this holiday
[00:02:50] Shaun Tanner: programming every year?
We actually have a team that gets together and talks about what we think would do well here. Um, but, you know, history has kind of shown that, they, that shows actually sell themselves. We’re bringing a lot of like the classic movies and people
[00:03:03] Fuzz Martin: just eat those up. Yeah, it’s fun when you see some of the movies up on the marquee that you’re, you know, everybody loves.
So, let’s talk about that on the movie side, first of all. So, you have a A holiday movie lineup full of classics. You got Elf, National Lampoons, Die Hard, so we can put an end to whether or not that’s a Christmas movie. How do you decide which movies to feature? What makes them resonate with your audiences each year?
What’s, what’s the criteria for that?
[00:03:28] Shaun Tanner: Again, like the classics, much, you know, mentioned like Elf and, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, we had, two sellout shows, two years in a row for, Christmas Vacation, and, people come dressed up, they, you know, have a lot of fun with it, obviously we worked and die hard, due to the, uh, big debate, but, uh, a lot of the stuff almost just kind of seems, you know, straightforward, and, and people really want to see, like you said, see those on the, on the big screen.
[00:03:52] Fuzz Martin: You also have some for the kids as well, you know, have a special screening of the Polar Express coming up. Can you talk about that? I know there’s a special guest coming up, so What can families expect from that?
[00:04:03] Shaun Tanner: There is, yeah, that’s another special event. That one’s actually sponsored by Timmers Resort this year, as it was last year.
And, again, it’s, it’s, you know, the Polar Express, again, magical movie. And, at the very end, for those who have never been to our, movie screenings, our screen raises, and we will have Santa Claus on stage, in the sleigh, with a special elf. And, for a meet and greet, then the kids can walk up a ramp, get a candy cane and a Polar Express bell, and, tell them what they, what they want.
So we do ask the parents to keep that, kind of quiet. I’m actually the one to raise the screen behind, and just the collaborative gasp from all the kids is that, I mean, it really is a magical time.
[00:04:42] Fuzz Martin: And so that is on Sunday the 15th, is that right? So how much, how much is that for families if they’re looking to come?
[00:04:50] Shaun Tanner: That is just a $10 ticket. I really don’t, feel like parents should have to pay, any extra to see Santa. So that is our standard movie rate. Excellent.
[00:04:57] Fuzz Martin: Alright, very good. And so you have something called the Christmas Showcase coming up. What can you tell us about that?
[00:05:03] Leona Knobloch: The Christmas showcase is on December 14th and it’s a very special day.
Sponsored the whole day is sponsored by We Energies and we have. Three movies, we have Home Alone 1 and Home Alone 2, and those are only 4 each for adults, kids under 12 free. Awesome. And during that, we’re gonna have, during the intermission between the two movies, we’re gonna have a special project.
We have some snacks, and that’s sponsored by The Antidote. And we are also going to be doing Project Linus blankets. And we’re, the kids and their families can put the blankets together. We’re doing that so that we can provide blankets for children. We’re working with groups like the Youth and Family Project so that, we can provide them something special for the holiday season.
At the end of that day, we’re gonna have love actually. And love actually is our date night movie, and that is actually free. Oh wow. We have opened that up to be free to the community so that, people can come and just enjoy the evening.
[00:06:00] Fuzz Martin: Excellent. That’s on the 14th.
[00:06:01] Leona Knobloch: That is December 14th, yeah.
[00:06:03] Fuzz Martin: Oh, awesome.
So in addition to the movies, you have a lot of great live performances coming up. How do you select the performances performers for these events each year? They each kind of bring their own unique vibe to the holiday season. So how do you go about that?
[00:06:15] Leona Knobloch: Again, that’s a team that gets together and goes through programming and what would work for the community, who we can bring in as far as comedy and music, and, what we want to do to promote those as well.
How can we, do special things for those events?
[00:06:30] Fuzz Martin: Perfect. So you have your holiday concert series coming up. There’s artists like, Dan Rodriguez and the Whiskey Bells. Can you tell us about Dan and the Whiskey Bells, what people can expect with those?
[00:06:39] Leona Knobloch: Sure, Dan, actually Dan’s, holiday special is called All I Want for Christmas is Whiskey, which is great because then we also have the Whiskey Bells, so we almost have this little theme going on.
But both of those events are just, they’re great for the, The community to, depending on what your vibe is and what you like, you can have a different kind of, atmosphere for the different kinds of groups. We also have, Janet Planet coming in. Okay. And she is, doing her special is All I Want for Christmas as well, but that’s a jazz.
Okay. And so that’s a, a very special, jazz performance from her. She’s actually fairly popular in the Milwaukee and the Fond du Lac area. She used to be a DJ in the Fond du Lac area, so we’re very excited to have Janet Planet in.
[00:07:17] Fuzz Martin: Awesome. What are the dates on those events? ?
[00:07:20] Leona Knobloch: Dan Rodriguez is coming in on December 13th.
Janet Planet is December 20th. And the Whiskey Bells is on December 21st.
[00:07:26] Fuzz Martin: Awesome. Awesome. That sounds like it’ll be a great time. And then, you also have the Four Cs uh, Four C Notes Holiday Show. What is that all about?
[00:07:35] Shaun Tanner: That’s actually, they, they perform as a Frankie Valli in the Four Seasons Tribute.
Okay. Um, and they’re tying in a little, little bit of a Christmas vibe with that as well. So it’s good classic music with, with a Christmas twist.
[00:07:45] Fuzz Martin: Wonderful. Bend also brings in some great comedians to the show, and I know before this airs on Friday the 60th, you had Erika Rhodes, which is always very popular.
But you also have some other comedians coming in. Who’s coming in? What can you tell us about them?
[00:08:00] Shaun Tanner: Coming up, we have, in December, we have Chris Barnes coming back. He’s been here before, and he was pretty much a heavy hitter. And, so we’ve, we opted to bring him back. And, Chastity Washington is opening for, him.
She was here before as well, and she’s going to be opening. She is a, teacher in Milwaukee.
[00:08:17] Fuzz Martin: And,
[00:08:17] Shaun Tanner: um, now, now doing the
[00:08:18] Fuzz Martin: comedy bit. Perfect. And you’ve got, them coming in two nights, right?
[00:08:22] Leona Knobloch: Yeah, they’re coming in on December 27th and December 28th.
[00:08:25] Fuzz Martin: Awesome. Awesome. And I’ve heard great things about Chris Barnes.
Actually the other day I was at the Taste of Washington County and somebody was talking about how excited they were to go see him again. So then coming up on New Year’s Eve, a big day for celebration, you have the Bend’s New Year’s Eve bash. What can you tell us about that event, the theme, and what you guys are planning to do to ring in the new year?
[00:08:43] Leona Knobloch: Alright, so yeah, we are wrapping up the season on December 31st with our bash, in which we’re having food and the champagne toast at midnight. The Flatcats are going to be performing that evening. We open up the doors at 830, the Flatcats start playing at 930, and we’re very excited. This year we’re doing a come as you are.
You can come in, you’re formal wear, you’re informal wear, you’re PJs, anything goes. We just want everybody to come and have fun and celebrate with us.
[00:09:10] Fuzz Martin: Sure, and that’s pretty affordable for all that you get in that event as well. Yeah,
[00:09:13] Leona Knobloch: 35 ticket price, so it is a lot for one evening.
[00:09:17] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, awesome. Very cool.
So we get in, we get through the new year, and then we start programming right away for 2025, and right away to start, I think that same week, right, you have, a tribute to Tom Petty, I know a lot of people love your tribute concerts, I’ve been to a few my in laws rave about it, uh, we took them to see, I think it was an ABBA tribute at some point, but tell us about the Tom Petty tribute, the date on that, and what people can, see when they get there.
[00:09:44] Shaun Tanner: Sold out. Oh, really? Oh. So, that is a January 3rd event, and, we put that show on sale, and it actually sold out in two weeks. Oh, wow. So, it’s, it’s cool to say, it’s unfortunate for those that didn’t get their tickets, but, Yeah, obviously, you know, Petty is a huge, huge name in the industry. Yeah. Uh, we’re talking about this Wall of Fame that we have going on.
So Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is on that list. So it’s kind of like a nice little tie in for, the, uh, the Wall of Fame thing too. But, um, yeah, it’s going to be a good show.
[00:10:12] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, that’s, that’s excellent. But So on to that though, you have other tribute concerts I’m sure that you’ll have throughout the year coming up in 2025 and people should get on them early because of that reason, right?
Correct.
[00:10:24] Shaun Tanner: Yeah, we do have a Separate Ways Journey experience and we have about two thirds sold for that. So yes, jump on those. We highly recommend that everybody try to get their tickets earlier as opposed to later because, we, it, it’s a little disheartening when we have to turn people away.
[00:10:37] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, I mean disheartening for the people turning away, but I’m sure for the Bend, it’s a good thing.
It’s fantastic, yes. Good thing to know that , the people are enjoying their time at the Bend and, and coming back for these concerts. The Bend, we, you talked about it earlier, Shaun, it’s centerpiece of downtown. You had the big Blade sign. How do you see the Bend contributing to the sense of community here during the holidays?
[00:11:00] Leona Knobloch: Again, it’s the sold out shows. I I Then November we had three straight weekends of sold out shows, which was a fantastic We do through that when we have sold out shows, we contact the bars and restaurants throughout Tom mm-hmm. Town and give them a heads up that that’s gonna be the case. Yeah. Because they do get swamped.
Mm-hmm . And we wanna make sure that, they know that in addition it’s bringing all those people to the community. One of our sold out show weekends. We had a number of people who came in from out of town. We had a number of people come in from Chicago, which was great. Yeah. To know that we were opening that opportunity up for the community to be supported through
[00:11:36] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
What we were offering. Yeah. And it really is. I mean, not the, the restaurants, the hotels, I mean even some of the, you know, the beat goes on and those other places that people, see a concert and they, buy some of the, you know, the music that they heard or, or just did. Shop around in any of the shops downtown.
It’s, it’s great to have You there, bringing people into downtown. It’s huge for the economy and for uh, those small business owners so that’s uh, wonderful. uh, With that, what does that mean to you? And you see the businesses succeeding, but also you know, family, friends. neighbors, people from out of town coming together at the Bend during the holidays.
[00:12:16] Shaun Tanner: Like we said, it’s great to see, you know a thriving downtown, you know, seeing a lot of the kids come down and, you know, we’re a non profit, we are a community theater, so having that, branch out in the community is is really a great thing.
[00:12:29] Fuzz Martin: So if people want to get tickets to some of these events or get on On to some of these upcoming events before they’re sold out.
How can people, buy tickets, where can they find more information?
[00:12:41] Shaun Tanner: Yep, so they can go to our website at thebendwi. org and get tickets there. We highly recommend signing up for our newsletter, like we said, we will send an email out, saying that shows are going to go on sale or are on sale now. And, Go from there.
We do also have box office, hours on Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 4. And, yeah, and you can also buy tickets, one hour or, one hour prior to the show or during any other show.
[00:13:06] Fuzz Martin: And as a non profit, obviously, this year is a time of, of giving and, you know, the shows support so much, but your, your prices are Pretty affordable and you have a big, beautiful building to, keep repaired and updated and heated and all those things.
If someone wants to support The Bend, maybe through donations, I know you guys have your annual appeal going on right now, how can people do so?
[00:13:29] Leona Knobloch: Well, they can donate online. We have a donation portal. If you go to thebendwi. org, right on the homepage, there is a donation button that you can push. As well, they can come in during the box office hours and make a donation and or they can donate to our donation jar when they’re there at an event.
We also do, have a lot of opportunities for sponsors and we are so happy to have so many supportive sponsors in the community. Bars, restaurants, a number of different, individuals and companies helping us out.
[00:13:59] Fuzz Martin: Perfect. And that, yes, and that, I mean, just from the start of getting the, you know, the Theater back and restored all the way through now and operations.
It’s been great to see that the community come together for this and as You pointed out earlier the importance of having this in downtown Really helps everyone. So Leona, Shaun, I hope you guys have an awesome Rest of your holiday season at The Bend, and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you both.
Thanks, you as well.
Always great to talk to the folks at The Bend, and thank you again to Leona Knobloch and Shaun Tanner for joining me on this week’s episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. Be sure to make The Bend a part of your holiday plans this year. And if you ever have an idea for a guest for this show, Make plans to email me and tell me who that should be.
Fuzz at fuzzmartin. com is my email address. That is fuzz at fuzzmartin. com or you can go to fuzzmartin. com slash guest. And there’s a form there that you can fill out. Give me all the beats. New episodes coming on Tuesdays, Apple podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Those are some of the places you can find them.
And of course they’re always available at fuzzmartin. com. I appreciate you listening, and I will talk to you next Tuesday, right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
