ClayPAC Showcasing New Performance Center With Event Saturday

The Clay County Performing Arts Center will be hosting its first show Saturday since renovations with an Open Mic Night.

Historic Courthouse Curator Thomas Watson said about half of a $85,000 Tennessee Arts Commission grant went toward turning the upstairs of the courthouse into a performance center. New windows, a stage curtain, sound reducing blackout curtains and computer-controlled stage lights were among the upgrades made.

“Usually we do a little Christmas play of some kind, but with all the work going on this year we didn’t have time to put that together,” Watson said. “So, we thought you know this would be a great way to get as many folks as they want to to come in. There’s no charge for this of any kind.”

Watson said he is promoting the event as Christmas Karaoke Open Mic. Watson said the venue could hold about 100 people. The Open Mic starts at 5:30pm.

“Our sound system can accommodate I think about 10 microphones and four direct boxes for our musicians,” Watson said. “We have it set up. It’s pretty professional.”

Watson said all musical acts are welcome at the Open Mic. He said he hopes the venue will start to attract people from across the Upper Cumberland.

“We’d like to have any choir that would like to come, any quartet, any individual singers that want to come in and do a couple of Christmas numbers with their guitars,” Watson said. “Of course, we’ll have the prerecorded music for our Karaoke performers.”

Watson said they already have another event scheduled in February. He said they are hitting the ground running.

“We’re looking at doing a music show tribute again,” Watson said. “We did one of these a little over a year ago, in tribute of Miss Lola Jean Dillon who is a songwriter, was songwriter, who worked for Loretta Lynn and various people who’ve had numbers of top 10 songs, and she had about 40 singles recorded throughout her career.”

Watson also said that they are still going to do more upgrades to the building. This includes redoing the plaster walls, upgrading the balcony and replacing more windows. Watson said he is still running the adopt a window program to help replace buildings in the historic courthouse. If you are interested in adopting a window, reach out to the Historic Courthouse.