Three years ago, conservative pundit Glenn Beck saw a quiet corner of Franklin County and decided to make it his summer home.
Saturday at 7 p.m. in Dayton’s Dahle Performing Arts Center, the county will benefit from Beck’s big fame as he hosts a fundraiser for three community organizations.
“Glenn just seems to like us around here,” said Paul Swainston, treasurer of the Franklin County Theater Arts Council.
The arts council will receive a share of the Saturday event’s ticket sales along with the Dahle Performing Arts Committee and Preston’s Oneida Stake Academy. This will be the second time Beck has hosted a fundraiser near his summer ranch in Weston. Last year, Beck’s speaking event in Preston raised more than $120,000 for the Franklin County Theater Arts Council, Swainston said. The money was enough to install new seats in the Worm Creek Opera House, expand the stage, put in a new floor, add a coat of new paint and install a digital projector.
“We still have a long way to go but it made a big difference,” Swainston said.
The Worm Creek Opera House is the only theater in Preston and, after moving in to his ranch in Weston, Beck decided to take in a movie.
“Last year he came to a movie and we made an announcement about needing donations,” Swainston said. “He came to us after asking if he could help. We were smart enough to say yes.”
The conservative talk show host and TV personality ranked fourth in the nation in 2013 among U.Sw. radio listeners; only Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Dave Ramsey attracted a bigger radio audience. Organizers in Dayton hope to attract about 700 people to the Dahle Performing Arts Center on Saturday to hear Beck talk. Once a fixture on CNN and Fox News, Beck now has his own TV network called TheBlaze. CableOne recently picked up the channel, making Beck’s commentary available to subscribers across Idaho.
Beck and his press representatives did not respond to requests for an interview for this story.
“I’m sure he wants to come here, unwind and get away,” Swainston said. “He comes here because people are willing to leave him alone.”
Both Swainston and Oneida Stake Academy Executive Director Elliott Larsen organized Saturday’s event by talking with Beck’s Weston ranch manager, Richard Stewart, who is the brother of U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah.
“The principles and things (Beck) stands for, we believe in 100 percent,” Larsen said. “We are thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it.”
The Oneida Stake Academy, a 1890s Mormon pioneer schoolhouse, needs about $3 million to complete its restoration. Once finished, Larsen envisions the academy will be a three-story, 7,500-square-foot community gathering place.
“We want it to be a cultural center for the community,” Larsen said. The restored academy will include a turn of the century classroom as well as a large ballroom for wedding receptions, concerts and dances.
The Dahle Performing Arts Center can accommodate about 700 people for the speaking event and Larsen said that tickets are still available.
Reserved tickets are $40 per seat and available online through the West Side School District website at http://www.wssd.k12.id.us/index.php/arts. School-aged children’s tickets are free.
(1) comment
Having worked in broadcasting, I know the influence of personalities on the public from the front of a microphone. Beck has been successful, last count of $20 million annually last time I looked, with entertainment disguised as a factual voice of Conservatives.
Since Reagan removed the ability of one of us to challenge guys like Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, and others on the same radio stations who polarize us to ideology of "you can be Rich like me" if your vote for the Conservatives with the loss of the Fairness Doctrine that would have allowed me to challenge guys like Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity as they spew misinformation and lies without being "put on mute" when I call them.
I am worried we idolize guys like Beck and the other polarizing Disk Jockeys who are on the Corporate payroll. The consolidation of our media has removed local independent stations who did a pretty good job of reporting issues that were only slightly polarizing.
Thank goodness I found the Internet and the kindle that allows me to explore avenues of other sources of information that permits me to make a conscience decision of issues without polarizing. Comparing other sources to what I hear from Beck and others has convinced me to not listen to the polarizing of the right wing local radio.
I found a family owned station on the internet that gives me enough information to realize that guys on local talk AM stations are leading us "down the tubes".
Take a listen, mainly during Monday through Friday to this Illinois station.
http://tunein.com/radio/WCPT-820-s27032/
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