“It’s exciting and almost unbelievable.”

Newberry Opera House’s Executive Director Deborah Smith commented on the upcoming season for the opera house at Newberry Rotary on Friday afternoon.

With the upcoming season starting off with a full list in September, Smith and the opera house employees will be busy bringing a variety of shows to people who come from all over the country.

Smith says that the opera house receives donations from more than 40 states, has a mailing list to more than 55,000 addresses in all 50 states and has made 70 percent profits from ticket sales.

As for visitors, they open their doors to an average of 100 visitors a week and they will be featured on the Biography channel for their supposed spooks, but that date is unknown.

However, for this upcoming year, Smith said they have more than 500 events with country and folk, bluegrass, comedy, singers, Broadway and other plays as well as local groups.

Smith encouraged Rotarians to get in on ticket sales before they sent out brochures which will soon be out.

One fun feature that the opera house is involved with is helping the children get acquainted with the arts.

In the previous year, more than 300 children’s lives were touched by seeing shows at the opera house, according to Smith.

They saw Civil War shows and dance shows to name a couple.

Smith pointed out a Terra Nova space show that third graders saw and then mentioned that the children these days are quite sharp.

“The arts will reflect the current curriculum of this year,” said Smith.

The opera house is a regional arts center and despite the sluggish economy, Smith is excited for the upcoming year with a wide array of shows.

Despite the ongoing construction, Smith is optimistic that it will be done before the new season begins. There will be new carpet and new restrooms along with other things that happened over the summer.

In regular news, the Newberry Rotary club had a full house at Friday’s meeting along with a few new faces.

The new Newberry College President Maurice Scherrens and his wife, Sandy, along with the Newberry County YMCA Director Eric Nelson were brought as guests along with a couple other new faces.