The long-awaited marquee lighting highlighted with gorgeous neon will be upon us July 11. To celebrate we are having a street party in front of the State Theatre. Everybody in the community is invited to turn out for this event and help us inaugurate the next era of the State Theatre.

As we awaited bids on the marquee and tower sign, we held our breath hoping that the cost would be within our total budget of $250,000. We got an extremely favorable bid of slightly less than $160,000. I want to thank the Auburn City Council and Viola Wrigley whose financial assistance made this project possible.

I also want to thank Nick Willick, Jeff Henry of the Placer County Contractor's Association, Bob Richardson, the Auburn Rotary Club, and everybody else involved with Project Auburn. You made possible the beautiful renovation of the State Theatre front wall! We now have a facade that is a virtual replica of the 1937 building front, including a new entry walkway and stunning tile work.

What's next for the State Theatre? Our board of directors debated the question that many performing arts center boards have debated: Should we focus our efforts on changing the interior of the building first (where no visible indication of progress would be apparent) or should we focus on the exterior where the work would be highly visible? We chose the second option. Putting a public face on our building shows the capability of our organization as well as showing the public what is possible.

APPAC is very excited by the progress we have made in the first two years of the three-year term made possible by our investor loans which enabled us to purchase the State Theatre, and by donations we have received from many generous people. The future is really up to the community and its ability to provide additional financial support which will get us to our next phase, a 447-seat "starter" performing arts center with modern restrooms, and which has the ability to eventually grow into a 648-seat center

The next era of the State Theatre is about to dawn. Please join us in celebrating.

Paul Ogden
President
Auburn Placer Performing Arts Center

Auburn
(From June 15, 2008 Auburn Journal)

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