LAKE VERMILION CULTURAL CENTER EVENTS
and Fundraisers!
The Lake Vermilion Cultural Center is dedicated to community enrichment through education and the arts by offering quality programming and providing opportunities to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the area. Your donation will enable us to continue offering events year-round!
TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE FOR MIDSUMMER 2025
Join us for another wonderful Midsummer celebration! Midsummer will take place at the Herb Lamppa Tower Civic Center on Saturday, June 14, 2025.
- Silent Auction and Cash Bar opens at 5pm
- Dinner and Closing of Online Auction at 6:00pm
The writer, producer, and director of the program, “Songs of the Journey,” will be LVCC board member and longtime participant in the program Ryan Bajan. Ryan asks guests “to join us on an adventure across the Atlantic as we present songs from the immigration to Minnesota as well as unique pieces highlighting the diversity of cultural roots in our region.” The show will feature regional talent, such as The Sectionals, members of the Choralaires, multi-talented Steve Solkela, as well as a community choir. Songs will range from popular Broadway tunes to old sea shanties centered around the immigrants’ journey.
There will also be a change in the silent auction. After researching what some other small non profits are doing, it was decided to present an online silent auction this year. An ad- vantage of an online auction is participants can view the items and make bids even if they can’t attend the event or are outside the area. The auction will last for several days, begin- ning on June 6 at 9 am CDT and ending the evening of Midsummer, June 14 at 6 pm. We will be using the website www.32auctions.com/LVCC2025 where you will be able to set up a safe and secure account to view and bid on our amazing auction items. A QR code (pictured below) will also be available to access the website. Winners may pick up their items in the Halunen lobby at the LVCC after the evening performance on June 14 or have them shipped at their expense. There will still be a social hour and a smaller in-person silent auction inside the civic center before dinner. Another change is there will be a cash bar.
The live auction will stay the same. It will be held after dinner with comedic Steve Solkela calling the auction. Popular items will again be offered: A seven-night stay at an alpine chalet in France with room for eight people, a seven-night stay at a condo in Cabo San Lucas, two Minnesota Wild tickets, and other opportunities. Start getting your friends organized to bid on these fun items.
The Midsummer Committee, chaired by Jaynee Yocum, is excited to host the biggest fundraiser of the year for the LVCC in a way that is familiar with a few changes. Find more details in the enclosed invitation and watch the local papers for updates on the online and live auctions. We look forward to seeing many of you on June 14!
Upcoming Events
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LVCC Though the Years
Keep up with the latest from our blog at Lake Vermilion Cultural Center
Silent Auction Online Bidding opens June 6th
The Lake Vermilion Cultural Center will be hosting it’s first online auction as part of the annual Midsummer Benefit. It begins on Friday, June 6 at 9:00 am and will end on the night of the event, June 14 at 6:00. There are up to 50 Items in the online auction...
Dear Friends of the Lake Vermilion Cultural Center
What a year this has been! Storms, floods, elections, parties, projects, fundraising events, gifts, grants, all with hopes and dreams beginning to be realized. Through the wonderful work of our Vice-Chair Sandy Wallin, State Senator Grant Hauschild and others, we...
Midsummer Welcomes Ryan Bajan as the New Director
Ryan Bajan has been a LVCC Board member for 10 years and has served as Treasurer for much of that time. He and his wife Linda, perform with the Sectionals octet featured in our newsletter. In addition, they have often sung with our Midsummer Singers and the Tower...
A Building Update
Over the past 3 months, the LVCC Building Committee has been working toward a goal of completing the major mechanical construction of our building. Because of the complexity and size of the structure, we have contracted with John Almeida of The Finished Look, Inc...
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To our Friends of the Lake Vermilion Cultural Center
Dear Supporters of the LVCC,
What a year this has been! Storms, floods, elections, parties, projects, fundraising events, gifts, grants, all with hopes and dreams beginning to be realized. Through the wonderful work of our Vice-Chair Sandy Wallin, State Senator Grant Hauschild and others, we have received a generous grant from the state of Minnesota tax funds. This $100,000 will be added to the funds that we are hoping to raise with this year-end plea as well as the $30,000 matching grant which we received from the IRRR earlier this year. That grant covered materials but not labor so we are continuing to raise funds to pay for the labor needed to continue working on our project.
Elsewhere in our Fall-Winter 2025 newsletter you will see articles about all the ways we’ve raised funds this past year. We seem to become more creative as time goes by but the needs and costs also increase as we work to finish this project. The good news is that our donors and other community members have been more than enthusiastic and encouraging in our efforts. Our successful Midsummer and other fundraisers have introduced us to many new friends.
In addition, we have had at least a dozen programs in 2024 in St. Mary’s Hall with delightful receptions accompanying most of them.
What we REALLY need now is you! We can’t thank you enough for what you have contributed in the past and ask now that you reach as deep as your finances allow to send a check, click the blue DONATE button above or complete the green box in the upper right corner of this page.
With warm wishes and thanks,
Elaine McGillivray – Chair, and
Mary Batinich – President
Gifted to the LVCC by the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, we moved the grand old lady on November 1st, 2015, now known as St. Mary’s Hall (see video!), to her new home near the historic center of Tower near the harbor.
She is currently being restored and will be used for a wide variety of cultural and community activities.