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One Reunion Brings Berea Alumni Home, September 25-27, 2026 🎓

Written by

Chad Hembree

I got another email last week. Would I come sing in the alumni choir for One Reunion? Would I take part in this panel or that reception?

I wanted to say yes to all of it. Then I looked at the calendar and remembered I am running shows that weekend. That is the deal when you run Spotlight Playhouse. The shows go on, and you go where the shows are.

One Reunion is Berea College’s alumni gathering, and it runs September 25-27, 2026, on the Berea College campus. It is the first time in the college’s history that alumni from every generation are being invited back at the same time, rather than split across separate reunion weekends. The college is calling it One Blood. One Reunion. The theme comes from the college’s founding motto, Acts 17:26: “God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth.” That motto is not decoration. Berea was founded in 1855 as the first interracial, coeducational college in the South, a place where every student works and nobody pays tuition. Bringing every generation back under that same banner is the whole point.

What It Is and Why It Matters 🎓

One Reunion is the college’s combined alumni reunion weekend. It merges what used to be the summer reunion and Homecoming into one gathering. If you have been waiting for a reason to come back, this is it.

The dates are Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27, 2026. Everything happens on the Berea College campus. That means College Square, the lawn at Phelps Stokes Chapel, the Alumni Memorial Building, and the rest of the grounds you remember. If you know this campus, you know how good it feels to walk back onto it.

Registration is open through the college’s alumni office. The college has said events may change or be added, so check the official calendar before you make hard plans. That is where the real, confirmed details live.

Why It Matters to Berea, Not Just to Alumni 🏠

I live here. I work here. I run a theater here. So I see both sides of this weekend.

For alumni, One Reunion is a chance to see old friends, walk the old paths, and remember why this place shaped them. That part is personal, and it matters.

For the town, it is something else too. When alumni come back, they eat at the local restaurants. They stop by the shops on Chestnut Street. They fill up hotel rooms in Berea and Richmond. They bring their families and their stories. That is real economic activity, and it is also something harder to measure: it keeps the connection between the college and the town alive.

Berea College and the town of Berea have always been tangled up together. The college is not off in some corner by itself. It sits right here in the middle of things. When alumni come back, they are not just visiting a campus. They are visiting a town that helped raise them.

What Happens Over the Weekend 🎉

The college has not published a full minute-by-minute schedule yet, and I am not going to guess at one. What I can tell you is the shape of the thing.

There will be music. Alumni choir is a longstanding tradition at Berea, and One Reunion is expected to carry that forward. Current student ensembles include the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, the Black Music Ensemble, and the Treble Singers. If you sang in any of those groups when you were a student, you already know the feeling of standing in a room with people who know the same parts you do.

There will be concerts and community events across the weekend. Friday evening is set to feature comedians, and Saturday evening will include the inaugural Mountaineer Fest in partnership with AMP Berea, with a headlining performance and a fireworks show to close out the night. That is what the college has announced so far. More may be added.

The Berea College Visitor Center, which opened at 104 South Main Street on August 3, is holding its official grand opening celebration in September in conjunction with One Reunion. That is a good excuse to stop in and see what the college has been building.

A Word for Locals Who Are Not Alumni 📌

If you live in Berea or Madison County and you did not go to Berea College, this weekend is still worth knowing about.

For one thing, traffic will pick up around campus. Chestnut Street and the blocks around College Square will be busier than usual. That is not a problem, just a heads up. Plan your Saturday errands accordingly.

For another thing, some events may be open to the public. The college has not confirmed which ones, so I am not going to promise anything. But Berea College has a long habit of opening its doors to the community, and I would not be surprised if some of this weekend follows that pattern. Watch the official calendar.

One local note: the Spoonbread Festival falls the weekend before, September 18-20. That means two big weekends in a row for Berea. If you are making plans, keep both in mind.

My Own Two Cents 📚

I am excited to see what One Reunion does this year. As an alum, I get it. The pull of this place is real, and the chance to be on campus with Bereans from every era is a good one.

I have already been getting invites to sing in the choir and take part in some other events. I wish I could do more of it. But they are doing those things when I am running shows. It is Spotlight, so it does not work out real well for me. That is the tradeoff, and I am at peace with it. Somebody has to run the lights.

If you are an alum and you have been waiting for a reason to come back, this is the weekend. Register, check the schedule, and show up. If you are a local and you want to see what the college is up to, keep an eye on the public events.

And if anyone wants to have lunch on a Wednesday, I am free. Not on Saturday.

Upcoming Community and Theater Events 🎭

Tickets and info for all shows: thespotlightplayhouse.com

Sources 📚

About the Author ✍

Chad Hembree serves as the Executive Director of Spotlight Acting School, The Spotlight Playhouse, and Spotlight Performing Arts. A resident of Berea, Kentucky, and a former member of the Berea Council, he has spent decades working in community theater, arts education, and local journalism. Since 1995, he has operated BereaOnline.com, focusing on local news, civic issues, and stories that highlight community collaboration and grassroots efforts across Madison County.

This article originally appeared on BereaOnline.com.

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