Holly Center big hit with crowd at gala
More than 600 people were in attendance Thursday as a new chapter in Lubbock’s history began with the gala opening of the Buddy Holly Center.
The gala gave members of the community an opportunity to view the center and all of its exhibits before today’s grand opening and ribbon cutting at 4:30 p.m. at the center, 19th Street and Avenue G.
For all of those in attendance, the event provided a truly unique experience and a chance to travel back in time.
”I love what they did to the old building,” said Peggy Sue Gerron, the woman forever linked with Holly through the song he wrote about her. ”It’s so romantic. I’m a little partial to Buddy, but when I walked through the exhibit it was a little bit dark and there were only a couple of people in there and I was overcome with feelings. It’s kind of like home.”
Gerron said she was a little nervous about what the center would be like before she saw it, but in the end she was thrilled.
”It’s all just terrific,” she said. ”I absolutely love it, and I’m so proud of it and so proud of Lubbock. If I had buttons on, I’d be popping them!”
For others who knew Holly, the center brought a familiar face back to life, if only for a short time.
”(My husband and I) went to high school with Buddy,” said Jo Love Nelson. ”I was in choir with him. A lot of this is really familiar.”
Nelson admitted she too was a little leery of what the center would be like.
”I was a little nervous that they might not have enough memorabilia, but I’m very pleased with it,” she said. ”I think it’s great.”
While the main attraction of the gala was the Buddy Holly Museum, the center also features the Texas Musicians Hall of Fame, currently offering an exhibit on The Crickets, and an art gallery, featuring Retrospection 15, an exhibit highlighting 15 years of arts projects by the Fine Arts Center.
A recurring theme for the event was the emphasis on the world-class nature of all parts of the center, and Kay Gilmour couldn’t have agreed more.
”Having lived in Chicago and Dallas, this is absolutely world class,” she said. ”It beats anything you could see in major cities.”
But for Gilmour, the best part of the center wasn’t its ability to compete with other facilities, it was the impact it had on her spirit.
”When you’re in the building, you lose all sense of being in a museum,” she said. ”You’re engulfed by Lubbock’s history and what we’ve contributed to the world.”
By ANDREA WATSON
Avalanche-Journal
