I am down in Rochester and I am out front of the Times Theater, which has recently, over the last few years, been renovated to bring new life back to it.

And it's serving a new purpose here in the community.

We're going to find out what all happened, to bring this back to life and be a functional spot and just kind of a way for the community to kind of stick together again.

Let's go in and meet Julie and find out all about it.

Hi, Julie.

Hello.

Welcome to the Times Theater.

So this is a really cool place.

We've actually had a chance to look around a little bit, but this theater has a really long history.

Can you tell me about it?

When did it originally open, and what has it been over the years?

It opened on Valentine's Day in 1924.

So just a time in the country, if you think about the Roaring 20s and all the celebrations and pre depression, the fashion, just the entertainment, vaudeville, silent movies, all of it.

And they were we had opera houses, we had theaters.

The we already had a small theater in town.

And the original owners of this are like watch out.

We're doing it.

They actually purchased an $8,000 organ.

And if you think about that, you could buy a house for that back then.

So everything was over the top, the marquee.

It just it put us on the map.

Chicago.

Notice like just a great history.

Big bands from Chicago.

Vaudeville shows, original tar sands from here.

Believe it or not, we have a long history of stars and talent all throughout.

So it's really cool that this sprung to life.

And big bands, big concerts, all kinds of things that were happening here.

And then over the years, the transition to other things like movie theater, things like that.

And then it went through a period of time where nothing was happening.

Exactly.

And so it took a group of people like you to decide that we needed to breathe life back into it.

Why did you guys make that decision, that this was something that you wanted to spend your time and resources on, and then what were your thoughts of what you're going to do with it?

How are you going to bring it back to life?

So we witnessed a lot of the history of this building.

70 kids, 80 the decline of the movie theater as it was.

You know, the equipment, all that.

And it was such a wonderful part of our life.

It was like, no, we're not we're not going to see this end like this.

And we dug in.

The pandemic was just about to hit, unbeknownst to us.

So right when we were digging, a group of about six of us got a lot more time on our hands, and we dove in and we didn't go with our memories.

We went even further back to the history.

You'll see.

You'll look around.

You'll see a lot of Gibson girls and Art Nouveau and tributes to Tarzan and every the big bands.

Once we get further in and just embraced our history and paid tribute to it.

And you guys put a lot of effort into painting this yourself and just doing all kinds of things.

And so we're going to head off and and take a tour and see some of the changes that have happened and some of the things that are still around.

How about that?

Absolutely.

All right.

So let's go.

So as we head towards the theater, one of the things I see in the snack shop, there's a new marquee out front, but there's part of an old Marquis right here.

Isn't that right?

That is original milk glass.

And one of my favorite things to do during the renovation was to still change the marquee on Mondays with updates or birthdays, what have you.

And when.

We were very open to imagination and design here, but one thing I really wanted was that marquee behind there.

And just never forget how far we've come and how cool that was.

So many great conversations right under that old sign.

And that leads us to the marquee that's out front.

Yes, that was a big change.

Yes.

And a lot of work went into it.

And there was actually a video produced about lighting it up.

Yes.

That one.

Some awards.

Tell me about go to our website.

Times theater.com.

It's fantastic.

We reopened or relit it on December 12th, 2022, on a cold winter day.

And somehow, someway, a little bit of snow kicked in and it was like a snow globe moment.

And a local company, Split Road Media.

They captured it.

They got.

I mean, people.

You need to see it.

And why was it so important to do that?

Just.

It was after 3 or 4 years of hard stuff.

No one cares when you're building walls or making sure the plumbing is right.

Or the electric.

I mean, they care, but they don't.

But to see that, come on, we knew we were getting close.

That marked four months before we would open.

Very good.

Okay, so we're going to head into the theater and see some of the amazing stuff that's happened there.

So as we come into this space, it's really quite cool.

And what catches my attention is all of the paintings and murals along the walls.

Can you tell me how that got started?

And who's the artist that did this?

Okay, so I grew up in the antique business.

Our family has some of the most wonderful friends you can imagine.

When this project really started this level of work, I called a bunch of old friends and was like, you can help me a little.

You can help me a lot.

Like, help me, I need it.

And this started about two weeks later, James Francis Scott.

He started this at 81 years old.

He's.

This is the view from his spot on the lake.

And the lake is such an important part of our history here you'll see other murals with the big bands would come and stay at our resorts and all that.

And he's like, there you go.

And then about two weeks later, he's like, well, maybe we'll start.

And three and a half years later, he's not done.

He's not in there.

Come and enjoy him.

It's, he's actually our institute.

Chicago.

He's worked with Marshall Field's, he's collected the bears, remember the Super Bowl shuffle and all that era?

That team actually collected him.

He's known in Japan like he's a national treasure.

And it's so cool that he look at it.

He invested.

Yeah.

Look at all the colors.

And when you're here.

Be sure to check it out.

Especially if you're familiar with Rochester at all.

I hear there's a lot of Easter eggs everywhere in there, including somebody and their dog.

Well, maybe on the wall there in the front.

So that's really cool.

So let's head down, down to the stage and talk about some of the things that are still here that were original.

So behind us is the proceedings that you guys were able to save.

And part of that is due to when the movie theater was here.

They built a wall in front of it instead of carrying any of it down.

Right.

So, but, but that was a choice you had to make to preserve the history here.

And without hesitation, we were saving it.

That original stage.

I mean, it just speaks volumes to what was here.

I didn't want I didn't even want it refinished like I wanted it intact and move forward with it.

So the stages original, the Presidium original, and now it's home to new types of shows.

And so what kind of things are people coming to the theater for?

What kind of shows do you guys do?

And you're bringing the community together a whole new way?

Absolutely.

We're prepping today for a crowd of 400 people tomorrow.

Our mission is clear live music, movies and community events.

We we love tribute bands down here.

We love two hours with community where you know every word to every song.

Movies.

Wonderful.

We do senior to special needs classes, preschoolers.

We get them in here so they can fall in love with movies like we did I. I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in here and Star Wars.

Like, I want them to feel that way when they come in here.

So we've done talent shows.

We are open to anything that involves community and arts and culture.

It's driving our main street forward right now.

So and some of the performers you have are regional performance.

So they're coming from the wider area.

You're bringing in not just me singing in the shower or anything.

Oh, absolutely.

We are geographic gold right here.

We can help bands and artists from when they're touring throughout the Midwest to root here, because you can play Indianapolis on Friday, the Times Theater on Saturday, in Chicago on Sunday.

Like, they love it.

They love it.

So one of the things that you guys do is you're bringing kids in, you're having experiences, but there's also opportunities for like, you have a VIP area that you didn't have before and stuff like that.

It's also a nonprofit.

Yes.

So you guys are intentional about being what's right for the community.

Can you talk to me about that, how you guys got started as a nonprofit and what your focus is?

So that's kind of the story of two.

Julie's there, Julie Sutton, who is not here right now.

She filed the original paperwork with the state and got us all legal and, the current or the then current owner of the theater donated it to them.

And art community.

More art music.

Like in the beginning, you know what feels right.

But how can you actually accomplish that?

And then this Julie moved home and combined efforts and combined boards and some wild ideas and some bad ideas and some good ones.

And we're here now that is so good.

And and I'm very proud of our team and our employees understand there's so many volunteers here like it's many most of us worked without pay for the first two years to just make it happen.

We believe that much and just so happy we did it.

Because now the preschoolers that came, at first they're like, why?

I mean, one of them asked me why even worked here?

And I'm like, I like popcorn.

But now they're proud of it and it's it's for them.

And just to capture that experience, I we it it just makes the world better.

It really is such a great space.

And I'm thankful for all the people who have put in their time and effort and resources to make it happen, and we're just so thankful for all that work that you guys have done.

How about we head up to one of the VIP spaces, and we can talk about some of the shows that are coming up real soon.

So, Julie, when you guys reopened, it was actually on a special date.

It was, Valentine's Day 2023.

It was the 99th anniversary and grand reopening at the Times Theater.

So a big celebration.

The community came out.

What did you guys do that night?

Standing room.

Only a roaring 20s attire.

We had local bands playing on stage.

We also played the first five songs.

We lost a lot of history here, but we were able to research and figure out the songs that were played, so we played them.

We had a dancing local dancing group come Little Ballerinas.

Like it?

Just everything to celebrate the arts.

It was perfect.

That's very cool.

Now, how do people get more information about what your shows are?

Is this space something that people can rent out for use?

Yes.

Times theater.com.

There's an easy link that discusses all of our events.

One of our favorite private affairs this year was a retirement party.

We did for a wonderful woman that worked at the downtown pharmacy.

And we will help that owner.

We found a band, caterer, bar, you name it, we make it better.

We do private movies for birthday parties.

We're doing a fundraiser for the animal shelter numerous times, but toys for tots this year just reach out on our website, and not all events fit.

Most of them do, and we'll get it figured out.

Very cool.

So, Julie, tell me about some of the shows that are coming up real soon.

Friday we have American Werewolf in London.

It's it's 45th anniversary.

We actually have a local expert on horror down here.

We have been developing, waiting for him to kick off this program, so we're looking forward to that.

We have a tribute to Metallica coming up, the Eagles.

A laser show that will blow your mind.

The Pink Floyd, echoes of Pompeii.

We will be playing elf.

We have a local church putting on a anniversary 30th anniversary Christmas choir.

Like, get on there.

Our schedule is packed.

Fall and winter are some of our busiest months because we're in the Midwest.

What else are you going to do?

Right.

So?

So remind you, remind us where people can get Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, but also the Times theater.com.

We keep that up quite often.

What's up there?

Well thank you so much for first of all, taking the effort to restore a beautiful place like this and then for sharing it with us.

We do appreciate it, and we hope you guys come out and experience the times right here in Rochester, Indiana.

It's a great place to visit, and it's just down the road from wherever you are.