By JEFF JENNINGS

Performer and Negaunee High School Alumni

Special to the Journal

NEGAUNEE — Greetings and Happy Holidays to all in Superiorland!

I’m writing today to share an amazing opportunity everyone in Superiorland has to get involved in a project near and dear to my heart. The Vista in Negaunee after nature’s horrific incident in the fall of 2019 that left the building unsafe and unusable.

There have been some amazing monetary donation that have enabled the Vista Board to clear the debris after the roof caved in, and ensuring the structure remains as safe and stable as possible as they work to find funding for the theater’s restoration.

In the meantime, volunteers collected and sorted tens of thousands of dollars in returnable cans and bottles over the last two years.

And there’s still more to sort.

But, realistically, I’m not sure there are enough cans in all of Michigan to help them get to where they need to go….any time soon at least.

It is true…I have heard the astronomical figures, but it is also true that Superiorlanders have always put the special in Someplace Special. So it’s no surprise that those who live there and/or grew up there know exactly what this means. Board members, well-wishers, and frontline workers have been searching deep within to find ways to keep the dream alive and make it a reality.

As someone who grew up in Negaunee and played basketball, some football, ran cross country and track, and was class President and President of the student council. I loved every minute I spent at school.

At the time, I never would have known that my passion for music would eventually set fire to a dream…that being musical theater.

Joseph, Franki, Eddie, Napthali, Dan, and Asher are some of the favorite characters I’ve played, but right now I feel as though my biggest role is to work tirelessly to help promote just how important the restoration of the Vista Theater in Negaunee really is.

Can you guess where it all started? I think many western Marquette County kids had a story like mine.

I was maybe seven years old when my mom signed me up for a summer theater program and was in HMS Pinafore and Pippin where I watched with wonderous eyes the high school students singing and dancing for weeks of rehearsals. I was sold! I want this for your children and grandchildren!  

Community theater is a meeting place, a gathering place…a place where friends meet friends and make new friends. The first big screen movie I saw was “Bambi” when my mom didn’t have time to take off her work clothes before bringing me to the movie right after dinner in 1970. In 1973 also saw a movie called The World’s Greatest Athlete, and la

ter that year I saw my first horror film, Burnt Offerings, after which my friends and I ran home scared to death. Good times, good times.  

My late brother, Jason, was a fixture at The Vista in many shows during the ’60s/’70s. He went on to be one of the area’s most beloved DJs and world-renowned authors and motivational speakers.

My nieces performed on the stage as The Koski Kids dancing and/or singing in the Pioneer Days Variety shows and my mom and dad spoke often of their movie dates in the balcony of the Vista in the 40s. I’ve seen several Miss Negaunee Pageant winners crowned there, I’ve been the MC for Pioneer Princess Pageants, my late best friend, John Perela and I won an airband contest there, my great-niece was in High School Musical and my great nephew was one of the kids in Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, (It was so fun to play Joseph with Lincoln as a child in the cast) which started his own celebrated music career with both BMS and MSHS choirs. 

Finally, I can’t tell you how many friendships have been kindled into amazing lifelong friendships at The Vista. Amazing humans like Bobby Glen Brown who traveled to Green Bay to do a recording with me for what…..? Musical Theater songs of course to benefit Alzheimer’s research. Rusty and Lisa Bowers and their entire uber-talented family. Former Miss Upper Peninsula and fantastic friend/performer extraordinaire Eliisa Herman and her family, both Shane Spencers (sp?) Marcia Nora who I grew up with and still perform with because of The Vista.

And so, so, so many more. Too many more to mention here as now I need to get to the point.

If you are someone who would love to see Vista Theater restored, please come out and join us as we try to put a few more dollars in the fund to help save the Vista Theater when many of my great friends and I will come together on Friday, December 9th at St. Johns Church in Negaunee.

We’d love to fill the seats as we strive to fill the room with love by performing holiday favorites. Also, I’d like to thank everyone who has liked, shared, and commented on my original song, “Christmas Decorations” and I’ll be performing that song on that night. I hope to add a new original, “Bedtime Prayers” to the line-up and maybe there’ll be a comeback of my other original “U.P. Christmas.”

Free will donations will be accepted at the door.

I so look forward to seeing you there.

Thanks, God Bless, and Happy Holidays.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeff Jennings is currently a teacher at the Green Bay Area Public School District. He has been actively helping to raise funds for the Vista Theater for the last several decades. His mother still resides in Negaunee.