Civic Center's Fall Lineup Keeps Growing: Skillet, Piff, John Schneider, and a Nutcracker Tour
Marion's marquee venue books a run of national acts
By Verna Slate, Williamson County Bureau
MARION — The Marion Cultural and Civic Center's booking calendar keeps filling in.
The Christian rock band Skillet is set to perform at the venue, the Southern Illinoisan reports. Comedy-magic act Piff The Magic Dragon will bring "magic and laughs" to Marion, according to WSIL-TV. Actor and singer John Schneider is booked to perform at the center as well, WSIL-TV reports. And America's largest Nutcracker tour is set to return to Marion in November, the Southern Illinoisan reports.
Separately, the civic center's connection to the pageant world got a boost of its own: Kate Dimmett was crowned Miss Illinois 2026, the Paducah Sun reported, a title tied to the pageant the civic center hosts.
Taken together, it's a run of bookings that shows what the civic center has become since it opened — the region's default answer for touring national acts, from arena rock to stage magic to a Christmas ballet tradition, all landing in a county whose old downtown storefronts remember leaner years. Ticket details and specific dates for each act were not included in the initial announcements.
— Compiled from reporting by the Southern Illinoisan, WSIL-TV, and the Paducah Sun.
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