The Community Center for the Performing Arts is approaching its 30th year of owning
WOW Hall on 8th Avenue and Lincoln Street. However, this tells only half of the story behind the historic site.
WOW stands for Woodmen of the World. The hall has been a social gathering site for more than 100 years. Originally, the site was a small church house that was rebuilt in 1883 by the First Presbyterian Church. In 1906, the Woodmen of the World fraternal organization bought the building site and eventually created the present building in 1932, during the Great Depression. It was the most expensive building constructed that year. Soon, WOW Hall began to hold community dance nights. These dance nights were Wow Hall’s initiation as one of Eugene’s greatest entertainment venues.
In 1975, CCPA, a non-profit organization, bought the building and, according to its motto, has been “fighting to save rock and roll” ever since. Volunteers are the heart and soul of WOW Hall and the CCPA. Every show at the venue has 15 to 20 volunteers who work during half of the show and see the other half for free.
“It’s a cool way of getting students involved at the WOW Hall,” said Abe Nielsen, who has been employed by WOW Hall since 2001 and is the current house and program manager.
CCPA also includes a Board of Directors that mostly deals with fund-raising issues.
Nielsen began volunteering for WOW Hall in 1997 after being impressed with shows he saw at WOW Hall. Nielsen said he enjoys the fact that he is “helping people find out about good music” almost every day.
“(Working at WOW Hall) is fun, and you totally run into new things. It never gets old,” he said.
WOW Hall is dedicated to serving the Eugene community for entertainment and hosts a large array of music genres.
“Part of (WOW Hall’s) mission statement is to book to the community’s taste, and Eugene has such a collective taste for music that we have probably booked any kind of music you can possibly think of,” Nielsen said.
WOW Hall also tries to include as much local music in its lineup as possible. It holds local band shows two to three times per month and tries to include a local artist for the opener of every national tour coming into Eugene. Within the past year, WOW Hall has teamed up with eugenerockmusic.com to produce Re-Ignition, a monthly local music showcase. Re-Ignition will be having its ninth monthly showcase on Oct. 7. The show features all kinds of music from local bands – from power pop to hardcore to hip hop.
“These fans aren’t just coming out here to see what everyone’s wearing or what is cool; they’re here for the music,” Nielsen said.
For bands, WOW Hall is no longer a pit stop between the drive from San Francisco to Portland. The local music scene and the dedicated fans and volunteers have turned WOW Hall into a mandatory stop on Northwest tours.
“A band may stop here and not have their biggest payday, but they may have one of their best shows,” Nielsen said.
Shows coming up soon at WOW Hall include Aphrodesia on Sept. 21, Tech N9ne on Oct. 2 and People Under The Stairs on Oct. 20. A full list of upcoming events is available at www.wowhall.org.