This week we’re gonna do a 2-for-1 special! We’re gonna talk a bit about the upcoming Hoosier Heroines weekend, coming up March 13 through 15, but we’ll also squeeze in a little personal profile on Marnie Leist, Director at the Lanier Mansion historic site.
The Hoosier Heroines event, celebrating Indiana women and the role they played in our nation’s 250th anniversary, is the product of a handful of Madison’s prime movers and shakers. These are the names you always see working behind the scenes to make the cool things happen. Randy Lakeman, Jessica Spiess, Sue Livers, Sally McWilliams and Patty Cooper Wells. In this case add Marnie to the mix and you have a powerful team who knows how to put on a great show.
This special weekend is actually an amalgam of 10 separate events happening all around the community, all in an action-packed 3 day span from Friday March 13 to Sunday March 15. There will be programs on women veterans, artists, a famous actress, vintage photography, poetry, forestry and nature, preservation and abolition, and an inspiring concert on Saturday night by one of Indiana’s very own female singer-songwriters.
For complete info on times and locations go to MadTixEvents.com, click on the VIEW EVENTS button, and scroll down to find Hoosier Heroines. It’s all there, including a couple of events with limited space that require registration.
Marnie Leist is involved because the Lanier Mansion is sponsoring the Saturday night concert. “We’re calling it Music at the Mansion, because that’s what we call all our sponsored shows,” explains Marnie, “but we are having it at St. Michaels Church because we need more seating capacity. I’m really excited about the woman we have lined up to perform, Becki Davis out of Zionsville, Indiana. I actually found her online, and her writing and singing just blew me away.”
Marnie has an interesting backstory herself, which led her all around the US and finally to Madison. “I’m originally from Dayton,” she explains, “and I went to college for art history and museum management. My first job was on Kodiak Island in Alaska, at a museum that specializes in indigenous culture and history. Then a history museum in Minnesota, a Native American museum in Oklahoma, and finally here to the Lanier Mansion.
“I actually have a Madison family connection, my dad’s aunt married a Datillo, so it felt very natural to take the Lanier job, plus being back relatively close to Dayton is a plus. We’ve been here 4 years now and just love it. Everybody loves Madison, am I right?! I have a kid in the music program at MCHS and it has just been wonderful. We’re very content here.
“The Hoosier Heroines weekend is going to be special, and we’re glad Lanier could be a part of it. Every event is free, although some do require registration due to limited space. The ten events are spaced out so you could technically attend every single one if you wanted to, there is no overlap. Not saying you should, but you could! That would be a very busy weekend.
“I guess what I’m hoping people will experience during the weekend is a feeling of our greater shared community and all the diverse ways we express ourselves. I’m hoping it will encourage folks to advocate for each other, and for nature. It’s important to remember the role women have played in every aspect of our nation’s history and culture, and this weekend will bring that front and center.” (Go to MadTixEvents.com for more info or to register for limited events.)
HOT TIP OF THE WEEK:
My hot tip this week is to take a lesson from last weekend. Last Saturday there was a brand new (to Madison) band playing at Mad Paddle. So my wife and I and a couple of friends said, What the heck, let’s go check it out! And they were great, lots of popular favorites to dance to. But not only was the band good, the atmosphere at Mad Paddle was lively and fun and warm and friendly. It was just a great hang out. And then, we got wind of a pop-up last minute show two blocks away at Vintage Lanes! Rusty Bladen and Michael Fortunato were doing an acoustic guitar/woodwind mash-up that was just magical, no other way to describe it. We took a chance and it was a totally memorable and enjoyable evening. It can happen any time in Madison, and usually does. Get out there!
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