Concert Saturday at Athens "Quonset Hut" Community Theater

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Athens Community Theater, come out this Saturday night at 7pm. Battle Creek’s “Lew Boyd Band” will be playing a concert at the Quonset Hut Theater.

It’s a really neat space, and owner Mark Doubleday has poured a lot of love and sweat into it to make it clean and comfortable.

Photo by Tim Collins/WBCK

Doubleday retired from Post Cereal and decided to renovate the old building on the main drag in Athens. The theater was built in 1947 as a movie house. It’s probably mostly remembered as a carpet store, though. That was its most recent incarnation before Doubleday bought it for $27,000.

On Saturday, that theater will be hosting “The Lew Boyd Band,” an 18 piece jazz and swing orchestra. The Band, started by the late Lew Boyd, plays dances around Battle Creek, mostly at the Kool Family Center (KFC).

Photo by Drake Olmstead

The band plays once a month there, taking a couple of months off in the summer. The next Lew Boyd Dance at the KFC will be Friday May 19^th at 7pm.

This Saturday, May 13th, the band will play music from the 40’s to the 70’s including big band selections from Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Les Brown, Gene Krupa, and Benny Goodman. The band will also do some fun rock tunes from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and mix in some latin music selections. Mark Doubleday says he won't discourage dancers from doing their thing on the 8 foot wide platform on the north side of the auditorium. He says if a lot of dancers show up, he'll consider building a permanent dance floor in front of the stage.

Since opening last summer, the theater has staged three plays, and done a couple of concerts. Doubleday says this will be the first big band concert. He says they hope to make is a regular thing, if there’s enough interest.

There will be snacks for sale in the concession stand, including popcorn, water and candy. Parking is anywhere around town that you can find, but Doubleday says the NAPA store across the street has been generous in allowing theater patrons to park there. Get more info on the theater's Facebook page.

Tim Collins