Get your giggles on: Rotary show

April 24, 2011

Get Your Giggles On: Rotary Show rolls out 69th red carpet
Singin’, dancin’, pokin’ fun at local issues and goring sacred cows…
what’s not to like? The 69th Annual Rotary Show unrolls its irreverent
roster of skits this Wednesday-Saturday, April 27-30, 8 p.m. at Lars
Hockstead Auditorium in Traverse City.
“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and the theme is ‘Having Fun
While Getting the Job Done,’” says Sid Lammers, of Trend Window & Design,
who served as president of the club last year.
All of the money we raise goes to our Good Works Fund to support worthy
causes,” he adds. “Typically, we raise $50,000 in ticket sales and in the
ads from local businesses that are published in our ‘Good News’ paper.”
The satirical skits at the show tend to be ripped from the front pages of
the local news over the last year, with good natured ribbing and cornball
humor applied as needed. The performers are club members themselves, who
polish their acts for months in anticipation.
A 28-year member, Lammers has been singing in the Rotary Show chorus for
the past 20 years but notes that its roots go back much further. “We’ve
been putting on the Rotary Show since 1942 and it’s the oldest fundraiser
in the region.”
One might also add one of the most successful fundraisers: over the years,
the show has raised more than $21 million for the Rotary’s Good Works
Fund, which contributes to many local causes, including arts & culture,
basic human needs, the environment, youth, seniors, families, recreation
and health & safety. A grant of $1,000 might help low income families to
buy car seats for their kids, or help to fund a food pantry or a youth
dental clinic.
Are you likely to share a sense of camaraderie along with the laughs? You
bet -- anyone who’s anyone in Traverse City makes this show a ‘must’ on
their list of entertainment options.

General admission tickets for this year’s show are $10, available in TC at
the Terrace Shopper, Annie’s, Petertyl’s, State Theatre, and online at
www.treatickets.com.