Engaged in the Arts
arts, cultural arts center, culture,
With plenty of live music, movies, visual arts and theater, Shelbyville and Bedford County are bright spots for the arts.
The downtown area boasts two major attractions: the Capri Theater – a restored Art Deco theater that shows first-run movies – and the Fly Cultural Arts Center, offering arts activities ranging from holiday dinner theater to art classes and live music, including the Nashville Symphony.
“We have our special events like the symphony, our community theater productions, youth theater and summer theater programs in the summertime, and it’s all local people,” says Janice Cole, director of the Fly Cultural Arts Center. “But we pull people in from Tullahoma, Manchester and other communities to audition for our productions as well as attend them. We’ve made quite a name for ourselves with our theater programs in particular.”
Also downtown, 50’s & Fiddles Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor recently got in on the entertainment action, opening a live music venue in the back of its ’50s-style diner on Depot Street. And Courthouse Cafe on the square also offers live music on Saturday nights.
Entertainment buffs also enjoy the ambiance at the Capri, which still has many of its original Art Deco amenities, including illuminated signage throughout the interior, steel railing on the staircase and the exterior marquee that has become a Shelbyville landmark. These days, owners Ray and Beth Rhoton are working on installing new seats and doing other renovation work.
“We’re doing the seats and drapes over the summer, but we’re always trying to keep everything up,” Ray Rhoton says. “Everything’s going really well for us here, so we try to keep working on the building and keep its atmosphere.”
The movies, plays and other events continue to draw people to the historic downtown area, where the activity helps restaurants and retail stores thrive.
“We have visitors who come in from all over, many of whom are coming to see our county history museum at the Fly,” Cole says. “Different people come for different shows, so we’re not just getting the same visitors over and over.”
The Fly highlights a different artist every month or so, and it also hosts dances every third Saturday, including the annual luau in May and the Blue Jean & Goblin Ball in October.
There’s a Festival of Trees before Thanksgiving, and an annual dinner theater production during early December.
Other Fly programs include an art workshop, led by Bell Buckle mosaic artist Sherri Warner Hunter, that will culminate in the creation and display of a three-sided mosaic statue – to be called Vision, Action, and Prayer – honoring the women of Bedford County.
“We are a cultural anchor for the area as far as visual art, and we’re always looking to do different things,” Cole says. “We’ve always got something new going on.”
Story by Joe Morris
