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BENTON TOWNSHIP — As southwest Michigan continues to stay at home to defeat the COVID-19 outbreak, countless events have been canceled or postponed across the region. This includes more than 50 performances, speaker events, meetings, celebrations and trade shows at The Mendel Center at Lake Michigan College.

According to Mike Nadolski, executive director of The Mendel Center, staff members have been working closely with clients, event organizers, performer and speaker agents, and LMC administration to reschedule everything from Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan Speaker Series presentations and concerts to private events and college activities.

“Our team has been hard at work from their kitchen and dining room tables to reschedule events originally planned for the period of shutdown from mid-March through the end of May. These events represent anticipated attendance in excess of 12,000 guests,” Nadolski said. “We see our role right now as helping to give everyone something to look forward to and opportunities to reconnect as a community when the time comes.”

To remain available to answer patron and client questions remotely, the college’s IT department has equipped Mendel Center staff with the tools to continue offering box office hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Monday through Thursday by telephone and email, and to continue meeting with clients and each other through video conferencing.

“Being able to communicate frequently with patrons, event organizers, sponsors, contributors, advertisers, and each other has made this process easier while we all stay safe and do our part in helping to reduce the spread of this virus,” Nadolski said.

Rescheduled events presented directly by The Mendel Center, along with the new dates, are:

• Motown All-Star Spectacular – 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25
• National Geographic Live!: Brian Skerry – 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28
• Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood: Scared Scriptless – 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021
• Henry Winkler – 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 20, 2021
• Aureum: An Aerial and Acrobatic Adventure Tale – 8 p.m. Friday, May 7, 2021

The Mendel Center continues to work to reschedule The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan Speaker Series presentation by Malcolm Turnbull. As information becomes available, The Mendel Center will inform ticket holders and the community.

Questions regarding other events scheduled at The Mendel Center that have been affected by the COVID-19 shutdown can be directed to the event organizers for the latest details about if and when those events will be rescheduled. All the latest performance and event information is available at TheMendelCenter.com.