If you’ve lived in Eugene long enough, chances are you’ve seen a show at the WOW Hall, the city’s oldest and most illustrious mid-sized concert venue. Chances are also that you’ve left a mess there, too. Like that time when you got too drunk and thought it was a good idea to throw your cigarette butts in the rain gutters and take a piss in an unlocked broom closet. Well, now is your chance to make up for it by attending the WOW Hall’s annual volunteer Spring Cleaning event.
On Sunday, the Community Center for the Performing Arts, the nonprofit organization that runs the WOW Hall, will host the event in an effort to clean, paint and bring the hall to sparkling shine. The cleaning party starts at 9 a.m. and runs through 4 p.m. Anyone interested in contributing is welcome to show up and work however long. Spring Cleaning is entirely volunteer-based, but food from Holy Cow and Track Town Pizza will be provided for all of the hard workers.

The WOW Hall plays host to more than 200 events per year. The many nights of housing crowds hungry for rock and roll takes such a toll on the 75-year-old dance hall that many of its patrons may not see in the low lighting.
“Spring Cleaning is done to get the cleaning that doesn’t get done after the aftershow cleanup,” said WOW Hall publicist Bob Fennessy. “What they don’t do is clean the walls and the couches and all the parts that are not normally accessible. We’re also going to need some painting and moving, too.”
Shows at the WOW Hall are staffed almost entirely by volunteers on a nightly basis. Those interested in getting involved with the ins and outs of concert production can put their foot in the door to becoming a volunteer member by attending the cleanup. Anyone who donates 10 or more volunteer hours to the WOW Hall is eligible to become a voting member of the venue. Voting members are qualified to vote and serve on the venue’s board of directors, as well as take on all of the fun concert tasks like taking tickets and stamping hands, hauling gear and kicking out drunks and rowdies. For those interested, the next volunteer orientation will be held on Monday April 21, 6:30 p.m. at the WOW Hall.
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