Festival Hill Making The Best Of It With ‘The Show Must Go On’
It’s that time of year when love is in the air and the annual Valentine’s Library Benefit Concert for Round Top Festival Institute is happening. This year it will be going virtual. There will be no live benefit concert, no silent auction, no tables laid out with sweet treats and yummies galore. Nonetheless, Dick Smith and family present ‘The Show Must Go On.’ The prerecorded concert starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, Feb. 13 benefits the Festival Institute’s Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Library and Study Center and will be free to the public. A link will be made available to the general public on Saturday at festivalhill.org.
The virtual concert features pianist/singer Dick Smith and a star-studded cast of family members. Joining Mr. Smith will be his nephew Will Lynde with Arden Johnson in Nashville. Dick’s brother J. Gary Smith will also perform. Love songs will be on the program including songs by George and Ira Gershwin and the Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCarthy
During this video performance there will be an opportunity to participate in the ever popular Adopt-a-Book program online. This gives attendees a chance to view and purchase a book of your choice, ranging from $20 to $1,000 dollars, to be placed in The Bybee Library at Festival Hill. Tip: Give a lasting and meaningful Valentine gift to your significant other by adopting a book in her/his honor. A special bookplate will be added in the book in memory of someone, in honor of someone, to mark a special occasion or anniversary or just to support the Library. It is a good chance to see the books being acquired for the Bybee Library at Festival Hill.
This year the benefit will have a 72-hour online Library Giving Campaign in support of the Bybee Library. Campaign launches at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 13 and ends at 10 a.m. on the following Tuesday, Feb. 16.
There is also an opportunity to win one of two $200 HEB gift cards. All donors who give during the 72-hour Library Giving Campaign will be entered in the drawing, including donors who adopt a book. Winners will be contacted by email and announced on the website Tuesday afternoon. Gift cards will be mailed.
The Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Library is a regional repository with a dedicated emphasis on music, and the arts and humanities. Round Top Festival Institute has long been active in collecting books on Texas history, Fayette County, art, architecture, and decorative arts with the intent to establish a world class research, study and reference library. It actively collects and preserves rare books, manuscripts, photographs, archival materials, recordings, works of art and houses the personal library of Texas historian and former Texas State Librarian, Dr. Dorman Winfrey and The Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Collection. The Library is by appointment only. You can also access the Library book catalog of over 11,000 volumes online at http://festivalhill.org/library/index.php.
The Library Benefit Concert will be made available this year through a generous donation from H-E-B. The H-E-B Community Investment Program contributes to non profit organizations that maintain an IRS 501(c) designation and that operate within the immediate H-E-B marketing area. Helping communities for more than 100 years, H-E-B has continued their valued support for the arts by contributing to the Festival Institute’s Bybee Library Annual Valentines Benefit and Adopt-A-Book program.
The Round Top Festival Institute also gratefully acknowledges the 18 years of musical performances donated by Dick Smith and Family to support the Festival Institute Library. The funds received through these concerts have tremendously impacted the growth and maintenance of the Festival Library collections.
Support the Library with your monetary donation or the adopt-a-book program. To donate go to festivalhill.org and specify Bybee Library. For more information, contact Lamar Lentz, Library and Museum Collections Curator, at lamarl@festivalhill.org or call the Institute office at 979-249-3129 Ext. 20 and leave a message.