Welcome to the King Fine Arts Center in Burley
The center was opened on March 1, 1999 with a Gala Grand Opening Concert that saw all 1200 seats filled and some three-hundred people turned away at the door. Since then the center has been host to many performances and activities including the record-setting runs of “Peter Pan”, “Les Miserables”, “The Wizard of Oz”, and “Newsies” with over 8000 people in attendance! The first year of operation saw ninety activities in the center with an attendance of just over sixty-thousand. On December 11, 2001 the King Fine Arts Center reached 100,000 in attendance. In February 2024, the community celebrated the 25th anniversary of the King Fine Arts Center with a special gala hosted by the Mount Harrison Heritage Foundation. With the support of the community we plan to continue to house the arts for many years to come.
More About the Fine Arts in Burley
The King Fine Arts Center
The $3 million King Fine Arts Center was built as a joint project of Cassia County School District No. 151 and the people of Burley, Idaho with the aid of the Mount Harrison Heritage Foundation and a very generous donation by Mr. Hermon King.
Burley High School
Is a four-year secondary school in Burley, Idaho. It is the largest of four traditional high schools in the Cassia County School District #151. Its official title is Burley Senior High School and it has only had its 2100 Park Ave. address since the doors opened for the Spring Semester of 1999. The previous school was built in the 1950s, residing at the locally known address of #1 Bobcat Boulevard, and the building still exists as a satellite campus for the College of Southern Idaho. Until the 2006–07 school year, it was exclusively a three-year senior high school, with the freshman class attending Burley Junior High School.
The school’s most notable aspect is the addition of the King Fine Arts Center at the southwest corner of the school. Consisting of a 1,300 capacity audience seating area, advanced sound systems, an advanced fly system above the stage, green rooms, costume/prop loft, catwalks, band/choir practice room, and even a lecture chamber, the King Fine Arts Center remains as the most advanced school “auditorium” in the entire state. It instills a sense of pride among students and local residents alike.
View the Burley High School Website
Our Stage, Our Story:
Past Event Highlights
Mt. Harrison Heritage Foundation
The Mount Harrison Heritage Foundation is a non-profit corporation for the advancement of the arts in Southern Idaho. The Foundation raised 2.2 million dollars to add to the school district’s 1.4 million dollar budget for a new auditorium to create the King Fine Arts Center. The Fine Arts Center includes a 1,200 seat Concert Hall, a 250 seat Little Theatre, a band room, shop, and a drama room.
The goal of the Mt. Harrison Heritage Foundation is to bring in more cultural events, ie. concerts, ballet, and theatre to Mini-Cassia in order to raise the cultural awareness of the area.
For Play Ticket Inquiries Call (208) 261-1233
The Magic Philharmonic Orchestra
The idea of creating an orchestra in the Mini-Cassia area was conceived by Bob and Jo Dayley. They and several others had played for various musical plays and events. While these were entertaining they did not totally satisfy the instrumentalists’ need to perform.
After a performance of the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” during the winter of 1981-82, Bob visited with Val Harrison, who was directing the musical, about creating an orchestra made up of people from the surrounding area. He liked the idea and volunteered to be the conductor.
In the fall of 1982 Bob called Steve Floyd (the Burley High School band director) and inquired about the availability of orchestra music. He said that the high school still had a good library of music stored away. Bob explained the idea of creating an area orchestra to Steve and Steve said that the music was available for our use. At that time they did not have a string program in the Cassia Schools. He also invited the future orchestra to meet and practice at the high school band room.
With the encouragement of his wife Jo, Bob called a meeting of some of the principal players of the stage orchestra for “Fiddler”. A group of seven met at the high school and proceeded to sort through boxes of music and talk about organizing an orchestra. It wasn’t long afterward that the group was meeting every Tuesday evening. The group grew quickly to about twenty members and named itself The Magic Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since several orchestras had been put together over the years and had gone by the way side for one reason or another the young group felt that a strong organization was needed to cement the orchestra together. Bob & Jo made a trip to Provo, Utah to visit with K. Newell Dayley, who was the head of the Brigham Young University Music Department. He recommended that we incorporate and set up a board of directors.
A young attorney, Dennis Byington, had recently joined the orchestra and with his help The Magic Philharmonic Society was incorporated under the laws of the State of Idaho. They soon had a board of directors and officers to guide their course. The first board of directors consisted of Bob G. Dayley, Jo Dayley, Carol Badger, Tonya Buck, Kathryn Collier, Val Harrison, and Wayne Burke.
Recently the Magic Philharmonic celebrated its’ 20th year of existence. In the spring of 2003 the Magic Philharmonic invited its former permanent conductors to join the orchestra for its spring concert. Val Harrison, Jim Keezer and Eugene Soulsby each conducted their favorite selections.
View the Magic Philharmonic Orchestra Website
Contact Us
Address
2100 Parke Ave, Burley, ID 83318
Phones
(208) 878-5464
kfac@cassiaschools.org