• Massillon Lions Club will present its 80th variety show beginning Friday.
• “Go West” features country/western music from today and yesterday.
• The show will be presented six times over the next two weekends, Tickets are $12.

MASSILLON – The Lions Club is heading west as it hosts its 80th annual variety show for the next two weekends.

Organizers say audiences can expect the usual fun and laughs.

“We always want to bring a nice variety of fun to the audience,” said Eric Myers, director.

Performances include 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. March 1 and 2 and 2 p.m. at Lion Lincoln Theatre, 156 Lincoln Way E.

Tickets are $15 and available at Sweeper Mart, 1016 State Ave. NE; Buehler’s, 2226 Lincoln Way W; Friends and Family Credit Union, 46 Federal Ave. NW; Massillon Senior Center, 39 Lincoln Way W; and Massillon Lions Club members.

Tickets can be purchased online at lionslincolntheatre.org until five hours before showtime, or at the box office beginning one hour before showtime, subject to availability.

‘Go West’ performances at Lions Lincoln Theatre

This year’s installment of the show, “Go West,” features comics, singers and dancers.

The live band is in the center of the stage as the set “slides between an old west feel and a modern-day west,” Myers said.

The musical selections offer a range of old favorites such as “Happy Trails” to Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler” and into more modern country western hits, he added. Other musical selections include “Mama’s Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”

A bevy of characters will come in to the saloon, including the end men who portray gold miners and prospectors.

“We’ll be doing stand-up, gags and jokes,” one of the end men, Rudy Turkal, said. “It’s a great show and we always hope everyone will enjoy it.”

Turkal, who for many years wrote and directed the variety shows, said dancers from Chris T’s Dance Emporium also will provide entertainment.

The show is family-friendly.

Besides Lions Club members, numerous community members help put on the show on stage and off, Myers said. He’s one of them.

“I like what the club does and when they asked me to get involved I couldn’t tell them no,” he said.

The show is the club’s largest fundraiser for its mission of sight and hearing projects. The club also uses funds to provide community outreach, Myers said.

For example, the Massillon Lions Club provided funding to help the community gardeners at Spring Hill Historic Home to improve the fencing.

“They don’t limit themselves to sight and hearing,” he said. “They want to have an impact on the community. People attending the show have the opportunity to support the Lions Club, which supports the community.”

Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or [email protected].