Organizers of the Great Spirit Comedy Festival in Manitowoc are reaching out to displaced workers of the Manitowoc Shopko store. The Calumet Avenue location will be closing it’s doors this month, with about 53 employees being laid off.
Greg Vadney, Executive Director of the Rahr-West Art Museum, is also an organizer of the Great Spirit comedy festival. He explains, “Really when we started this festival the idea was to bring something a little extra fun to Manitowoc and we figured when you’re having tough times like these, the least we can do is reach out. We are going to be offering complimentary tickets to each of the 53 employees of Shopko, along with a guest. So, each employee would be eligible for a free ticket to the Friday night 9 pm show.”
Vadney says all those Shopko employees have to do is show up Friday night to the Masonic Temple at 810 Chicago Street, before 9:00 o’clock and show their store ID or employee card. He also talked about the comedy talent that’s coming here for the 4-weekend shows.
“We bring in comedians from really all over the country with two national headliners. Some more folks from LA, people from Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and a few of our great local comedians as well.”
The standup comedy festival is offered this Friday and Saturday nights April 12-13 at 7-&-9pm at the Masonic Temple. Tickets are also being sold to the general public by going to greatspiritcomedy.com. The Rahr West Art Museum is one of the 3-beneficiaries of the comedy festival.
