The Park Theater very quietly celebrated its one-year birthday on Monday. This was somewhat disappointing because I was pushing for a rowdy celebration with ice cream and punch.
The Park Theater's first year of returning to an entertainment venue has been rich with flavor -- sort of like cream cheese icing slathered on top of a giant cookie.
The main setback would have to be the inability to show movies. The city had hoped for it to be a place for second-run movies and even had a retractable screen installed during renovation. However, a provision in the land deed prohibits movies from ever being shown at that property again.
That hiccup aside, the Park Theater has been a symphony of activity, featuring plays, comedians, and live music. Folks have scrambled through the door to see gospel singer Jason Crabb and squeezed in to see plays like "The Little Mermaid."
The action isn't about to take a nap. Park Theater officials say there are events, either public or private, booked for 29 of the next 33 weekends. In the next month, there's a wedding reception, a Central Baptist Association meeting, and a summer theater camp.
The one-week theater camp, from June 13-17, is a neat concept. It's open to students in grades 1-12. They will work on a production of "The Wizard of Oz" for the entire week with performances Friday afternoon and Friday night to end camp.
When it comes to entertainment, the trick is finding affordable acts so tickets can remain in the attractive $15 to $20 price range. I like the work local resident Brad Durham has done in bringing an Eagles tribute band to perform June 30. Brad is doing this on his own as a fundraiser for the WCHS football team. The Pioneers get 40 percent of the proceeds.
The Standard is one of several local businesses which have jumped on board as a concert sponsor to bring this Eagles tribute band to town. Brad said corporate sponsors are crucial to establishing a concert series because it's so difficult to break even.
"Bringing in talent to a small town is a very risky endeavor," said Brad, who was one of the organizers of the first Dottie West Fest that brought Charlie Daniels to McMinnville for a free-admission concert. "We had Cracker Barrel as a corporate sponsor for the Dottie West Fest and that's what paid for Charlie Daniels. It's the reason Bluegrass Underground works so hard to get its corporate sponsors. That's what it takes."
In the years to come, it will be interesting to see what kind of names we can attract to the Park Theater. It may be easy to shrug off this idea and say McMinnville will never be able to land any big stars, but I'm not convinced we have to adopt this mindset.
Who would've thought Paul McCartney would play in a field in Coffee County? Who would've thought Vince Gill would play in a cave in Warren County?
With the right collaboration, Park Theater could be a portal to a new entertainment dimension.
Standard editor James Clark can be reached at 473-2191.