Paramount Center for the Arts Announces 2021 Event Lineup for Theatre’s 100th Birthday

Image by C B from Pixabay

(KNSI) – The Paramount Theatre turns 100 years old later this year, and the Paramount Center for the Arts has several events lined up over the next few months to celebrate.

“The Paramount Center for the Arts is here for art, for the thousands who produce it and the tens of thousands who consume it,” said Paramount Center for the Arts’ Board Chair King Banaian. “For a century, we have had this emblem of the wider world around us, a gateway between that world and the Upper Plains, through which those who came later could see themselves and share their discovery with the neighbor sitting or standing next to them.”

Summer will bring a public art piece that commemorates the theatre’s anniversary. Details on that will come in June, the center says.

In August, the Paramount will host its 100th Anniversary Block Party to honor healthcare workers, firefighters and police officers.

September 24th brings the Paramount’s annual fundraiser, Autumn Moon, which was held virtually in 2020 due to COVID-19. Autumn Moon 2021 will feature a Twin Cities band, The New Standards.

In October, the theatre plans to show the same silent movie that the theatre first opened with back in 1921: “Way Down East.”

A cake and coffee social event is planned for Christmas Eve 2021, the Paramount’s birthday.

The center adds that commemorative items made by local artists will be on sale at the Paramount Gift Gallery starting in June.

Originally named the Sherman Theatre, the local venue opened its doors on December 24th, 1921 with a showing of “Way Down East.” The theatre underwent a restoration and was given its current moniker in 1930. After a fire in 1985, the building was fully restored in 1998.

“As I consider the 100th year of the Paramount Theatre, I think of a rich jewel, a diamond, created by stress and pressure, enduring, unconquerable, with many brilliant facets of fire, says Executive Director Bob Johnson. “Besides years of music, dance, plays and films, this theatre has seen war, fire, deterioration and a pandemic. Yet it stands strong and ready to support the community through art, entertainment and culture for the next 100 years.”