I-Team's Call for Action helps Methuen theater get $12,000 back from vendor
METHUEN -- The City of Methuen is home to a musical gem: a world-renowned organ aptly named "The Great Organ."
The towering instrument is three stories tall and fills the Methuen Memorial Music Hall with an unforgettable sound that flows from its pipes.
Visitors can see a few dozen of the pipes on the façade of the organ, but thousands more are hidden in the back. "6,000 pipes. It's one of the larger pipe organs in the country and in the world," explained Chad Dow, trustee of the non-profit that runs concerts in the hall.
The theater runs concerts from April through December, booking some of the world's most accomplished professional organists to play in the hall. The Methuen Memorial Music Hall was built specifically by a local resident to house the organ that was originally commissioned for the Boston Music Hall in the 1800s.
It is the revenue from those shows that keeps this non-profit theater afloat, paying for upkeep and fees to the musicians.
That is why Dow was worried when their online ticket vendor, Brown Paper Tickets, didn't pay them their receipts.
"It was a little over $12,000 which is our ticket sales for the entire season, that money for a small non-profit really means a lot," he said.
After a series of emails were never returned, Dow called the I-Team's Call for Action. "I am a loyal WBZ watcher. I watch you guys all the time. I've seen the stories that you do, and I think you get really good results," he said.
WBZ-TV contacted Brown Paper Tickets and a few hours later Chad heard from the company. "I got an email from them that the payment transfer has actually been started; I was really grateful."
Now the volunteers who run the Methuen Memorial Music Hall have the money they need to keep those pipes in tune for their season opener in April.