He's still dancing, still singing, and still entertaining. Dick Van Dyke is back in Central Illinois visiting his home town of Danville.
The 90 year old actor says when he heard his childhood home was condemned, he knew he had to do sometheing about it because all of the memories created there. Van Dyke is working with the Dick Van Dyke Foundation to raise money to restore the home, along with raising money for students in fine arts departments.
Lance Kirkland, the President of the Dick Van Dyke Foundation explains how the restoration efforts got started, "I asked Dick and said, 'Would you mind if I went down and explored if we can possibly save the property?' I came down, was able to acquire the property and out of that, we decided to form a foundation about other ideas that are important to him."
As for the childhood home, Van Dyke says, "I think anybody's home is [important]. I had a great childhood with so many experiences. There was no television, no TV games, just radio growing up, and a movie on Saturday if you could afford it. We just made up our own thing. I became a magician."
The Dick Van Dyke Foundation hopes to raise $250,000 to renovate the home and hopes to eventually turn the home into a museum.
As for Van Dyke, he's not giving up entertaining quite yet. He says, "I have a quartet with three other guys. We're going to sing tomorrow night. We go out and sing a lot of benefits and fundraising. That's mostly what I do now."
The welcome home reception for Dick Van Dyke in Danville has changed. The location for the reception will now be the David S. Palmer Arena at 100 West Main Street. The reception was originally scheduled for Harrison Park Clubhouse. Doors at the Palmer Arena will open at 7:00 p.m. Friday, June 24th. The reception kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for both the reception and concert are sold out. All proceeds go to the Dick Van Dyke Foundation.
