The WOW Hall is a venue that aims to be culturally enriching, musically appealing and community-oriented. The hall, built in 1932, has been home to musical performances, dance acts and other forms of entertainment, featuring everything from African dance to hip-hop and reggae to polka and jazz.
“The WOW Hall serves as a multi-purpose art facility with an emphasis on serving people of all incomes, and of all ages,” said Kayte McDonald, WOW Hall volunteer coordinator and house manager.
McDonald is responsible for recruiting, training and scheduling volunteers for the WOW Hall. She said volunteering at the WOW Hall is enjoyable because volunteers typically only work during shows. There are two shifts each show, and volunteers only have to work one shift and have the other shift to devote their attention to the act on stage.
Seeing the act for free is a way of being rewarded for the work. Volunteers are responsible for working in security positions, answering phones and collecting tickets. For people interested in journalism, McDonald recommends writing for the WOW Hall newsletter. Volunteer orientations are held once every month and last for about one hour. The next orientation is 5 p.m. Tuesday at the WOW Hall at 291 W. 8th St. McDonald said volunteers drop in sporadically to set up for shows and help with other activities.
“Volunteering at WOW Hall is a great way to learn about publicity, working shows and administration,” she said. “It is a great way to learn about the music industry.”
October is a busy month for the WOW Hall. People at the Hall refer to October as “Rocktober” because the Hall will be hosting 21 shows in 31 days. McDonald recommends checking out Buck 65, who she describes as “awesome, underground, backwards, backyard hip-hop.”
For more mainstream hip-hop, McDonald recommends checking out Missouri-based rapper Tech N9NE, who performed previously at WOW Hall at the end of the past academic year. The rapper will be at WOW Hall on Wednesday and Thursday.
McDonald is also looking forward to a performance by singer-songwriter Mason Jennings on Oct. 20. She said Jennings is popular with the college crowd.
Michael Griffin, a five-year janitor at the Hall, said he enjoys his job. Aside from “picking up after rock stars,” which is what he considers the highlight of the janitorial position, he also enjoys working at the WOW Hall because he is working with “some of the finest people (he has) ever known.” He said the atmosphere at the Hall is positive and encourages community involvement.
“The WOW Hall is what it is supposed to be – a community cultural center,” Griffin said, adding that there is great participation from all age groups in the community.
McDonald couldn’t name her overall favorite WOW Hall performance because there have been too many.
“Overall, one of the wildest shows has been GWAR,” she said. “We had to completely line the entire inside of the building with plastic to protect it from all of the fake vomit and other fake bodily fluids sprayed out by the group while on stage.”
Senior multimedia major Alaina Mickes has been to WOW Hall several times.

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