(Spirit Lake)– A monumental day Friday for the Spirit Lake School District and the community.
Ground was officially broken on the 9.3 million dollar Semi Bedell Center for the Performing Arts just south of the high school on 28th Street.
Tom Bedell, Chairman of the Board of Spirit Lake-based Pure Fishing, has gifted six million dollars for the project, with the Spirit Lake School District providing the additional 3.3 million through revenues from the Local Option Sales Tax.
Superintendent Tim Grieves thanked Bedell and his family for their generosity. Bedell addressed the crowd, saying a generation of students was let down by not having such a facility available to them. He says that’s about to change now.
School Board President Beth Will says the project is a perfect example of what can happen through a collaborative effort, in that more than 150 community members were involved in subcommittees and committees that assisted in planning for the Sami Center.
High School Vocal Director Duane Ides spoke on behalf of current and former Vocal and Instrumental Directors in the Spirit Lake School District. He says historically Spirit Lake’s vocal and instrumental performers have been and are among the top in the state and nation, receiving many accolades on all levels. He says they’ve always presented first rate performances in not-so first rate venues. He says the Sami Bedell Center for the Performing Arts will change that.
Dave Rowley, who helped with the approval of the one cent sales tax, says the new facility will serve as an important center piece for the community.
Tyler Pedersen, a musician and 2004 graduate of Spirit Lake High School, says the Sami Bedell Center for the Performing Arts will mark an exciting new era and open new opportunities not available in the past at SLHS.
The project officially went out for bids today (Friday). They’re due back June 21st with a bidletting at the end of June. Construction is to start in July. The project is expected to take two years to complete.
