Gehl Foods Performing Arts Pavillion getting closer to final form as construction nears completion.

Kiwanis Pavillion Project Nears Completion

The Gehl Foods Performing Arts Pavillion in Firemen’s Park nears completion as the roof panels are now in place. The dream of building a “band shell” has evolved into a beautiful modern pavillion structure as Germantown Kiwanis proudly awaits the final touches on the construction. 

Keller Builders set footings for the Kiwanis project in January. Then International Concrete Products panels were set in place during February. Then Keller oversaw the installation of steel trusses for the roof panels. All of this confirmed that the project which was started in 2009 is finally seeing a successful completion. 

John Krause and Jim Barnes, members of the Germantown Kiwanis are spearheading the committee for the Gehl Foods Performing Arts Pavillion. Krause, the committee chairman and chief proponent of the project, had secured an important source of private funding through the Gehl family who founded Gehl Foods, Germantown’s long standing commercial base business. With the Gehl family in support of the effort, other community minded businesses and individuals have stepped forward to provide the additional funding for the $400,000-plus project.

Barnes, a music instructor at Germantown High School, has established a Go Fund Me account to accept donations to finish the Gehl Foods Performing Arts Pavillion. You can follow the progress by viewing the total shown on the publicly viewable Go Fund Me page.

Krause told the Kiwanis Club at their regular Wednesday morning meeting at Aldo’s Pub and Pizzeria that the “Buy A Brick” campaign had sold 320 personalized bricks at a donation of $100 apiece. The additional funding was needed to support final costs and any over run amounts to finish the project. They are on schedule to open the Gehl Foods Performing Arts Pavillion for the spring and summer of 2018. Already performances have been scheduled to have a community grand opening for the pavillion. Donations are welcome.  Just go to  this link: http://www.gofundme.com/y4gsaw. Donations can be made by credit card.

After the structure is completed, the Germantown Parks and Recreation Department will use the facility to hold events in the park for the area groups, i.e., Germantown Community Band, the Germantown High School Band and organizations such as Destination Imagination. It will be available for weddings and private events. It is the hope of the Germantown Kiwanis Club that more events will be created for the pavillion. One idea is to have a Jazz In The Park night at the pavillion for the whole community to enjoy. The Kiwanis event, A Taste of Germantown will also be held near the pavillion in July. 

Here is what the project looked like in February, 2018.

Interested Germantown residents will find the Gehl Foods Performing Arts Pavillion page to be informative. There are multiple digital .pdf files available there including a brochures for fund raising and information on the construction of the GFPAP. Follow this link to review the page.

Germantown Kiwanis Club Gehl Foods Performing Arts Pavillion Rendering