Arts & Entertainment

Mayor: Vernon Arts Center to be Dedicated in June

The ribbon-cutting is scheduled for June 9.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Vernon Community Arts Center has been scheduled for June 9, Mayor George Apel said this week.

That is 11 months after the ground-breaking. Town officials had hoped for a March dedication, but construction complications pushed the date to June. One project official said one of those complications involved the exterior paint. 

The original completion target was the late fall of 2011.

The whitewashed building at the corner of Hartford Turnpike and Center Road was constructed in 1927 as the County Home School for children and it served in that capacity until 1950, when its students were integrated into the Vernon school system.

The building also as home to kindergarten and adult education classes over the years.

The conversion into a modern arts center has an estimated price tag of $1.7 million and it is being funded by two state grants.

In 2008, the town received a $300,000 grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and last last year, Vernon received $1.5 million from the Department of Economic and Community Development.

The architectural firm of Quisenberry Arcari designed the building and A. Secondino & Son Inc. is the general contractor.

Town officials have said that the center will be the most up-to-date in Tolland County and it will feature a multi-purpose performance space, gallery space, meeting rooms and classrooms.


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