Saturday’s benefit concert dubbed “Rock-N-Rolling Through the Ages†will feature Negaunee natives Jeff Jennings and Gerry Pirkola. They will be joined by other local artists, Whiskey Ryan and Catfish Kennedy, Jackie Bowers of the Daydreamers and more. (Image courtesy of the Vista Theater)
NEGAUNEE – It has been almost a year since the roof of the Historic Vista Theater in downtown Negaunee collapsed.
August 26 was that terrible morning to be exact, devastating anyone with any connection to the building throughout its 95-year history.
The theater along Iron Street in downtown Negaunee opened on September 20, 1926. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
Shortly after its roof collapsed at 8:15 a.m. that Wednesday, community members rallied to save the building. The natives of Negaunee have donated from near and far, businesses in the region have made donations, the Peninsula Arts Appreciation Council has led a collection of thousands of cans and returnable bottles, the classes of former students of Negaunee High School held a contest to see who could raise the highest amount, and much more.
With the light at the end of a glowing pandemic dark tunnel and community events in full swing, the Vista now has another online donation campaign: a benefit concert at the Negaunee Band Shell in Breitung Park this Saturday.
The concert, baptized “Rock-N-Rolling through the ages,” will star Jeff Jennings and Gerry Pirkola, from Negaunee. They will be joined by other local artists, Whiskey Ryan and Catfish Kennedy, Jackie Bowers of the Daydreamers and more.
According to PAAC, the concert will feature live performances of songs from the 1950s, early 1960s and through to the present day. Songs from the Jersey Boys, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John, Buffalo Springfield and more will satisfy your ears.
Jennings said he has wanted to put on a benefit show for the theater for about a year.
“Shortly after the roof collapsed, I had contacted (theater volunteer) Eliisa Gladwell about the possibility of having some sort of musical event to help with the reconstruction of the roof”, he said in a statement. “Unfortunately, COVID made this idea an idea that should wait. I’m really excited to be a part of this event, especially with such a great group of friends and artists.
PAAC Chairman Rusty Bowers said he was happy to see live music return to local stages and for a good cause.
“We are really excited about this whole event”, he said. “Who would have thought at this time last year that we could have done it. We are so grateful to Jeff and Gerry for making this possible.
“The main purpose of the concert is to let people know that we are still a successful and successful band and that we still exist. We always want to bring quality productions to Negaunee. Getting out of COVID has been a bit difficult. We don’t have a house, so we wanted to set up something now that we can get together and play live. “
The problem of bringing future productions to town? The theater is still without a roof.
“The point is that the building is doomed” said Bowers. “To get occupancy and use, we have to put a roof on the building. We have to redo the electrical system and install a new heating system because the 20,000 pounds of water that fell went in and destroyed it. We have to redo all three to have a functional building, which will take a lot of time. “
The theater was wintered last fall to survive the harsh Upper Peninsula winters, but so far full repairs have yet to be made.
“Is the roof fixed? Not at all,” said Bowers. “It’s too big a project. It’s really strange, we’re asking these big companies for money, and unfortunately we haven’t asked for enough. Ask for $ 100,000 and it is not enough. It’s $ 200,000 for the roof.
The community’s fundraising efforts have been significant, with $ 66,404 raised on the theater’s GoFundMe page on Wednesday and more than $ 20,000 in returnable cans and bottles, according to Bowers.
“The fundraising last fall was great” he said. “The city (of Negaunee) and everyone have been very supportive. The GoFundMe has raised a lot of money. We had the theater annex full to the ceiling of cans and bottles, and probably worth $ 10,000 in our backyard during the winter in countless bags. Another member of the board of directors (PAAC) also had some in his garden.
Unfortunately, VIP is no longer accepting cans and bottles at this time as there are just too many to count.
“We brought trailers from Marquette and filled the annex up to the ceiling”, said Bowers. “We appreciate everyone thinking of us, but return (your cans and bottles) to the store and consider a donation instead. “
Long before the pandemic and the roof collapse, PAAC had major plans in place for the future of Vista. The plan included a complete overhaul of the theater itself.
“We received money from the Greater Ishpeming-Negaunee Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Negaunee for a total of $ 10,000 to hire an upstate theater professional to come here and create a professional business plan for us, work with an architect and renovate our two buildings to convert them into a modern and functional art center â€, said Bowers. “It wasn’t just a renovation, but a total restoration, working with historical people to make (the theater) as historic as possible. It was built in 1926, but underwent extensive renovations in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which somehow changed its appearance. We can’t do a full historical restoration because so much has changed, but we can be as true to it as possible. “
The VIP estimated that the renovation / restoration would cost between $ 2 and $ 3 million.
“The whole plan was to update everything”, said Bowers. “We didn’t have replacement insurance when the roof collapsed. The electricity is so old, much of the wiring is from 1926 and no insurance company could give us a quote for the replacement.
“When VIP was created in the early 1970s, the vision for it was a bit like an arts center. They had painting classes and sessions, jewelry, visual arts, performing arts and movies there (at the Vista), there was so much going on for the community to come together, create some art and show off to the city. Our restoration is based in a way on this idea, transforming it into a modern art center where we can have films, a live stage, the renovation of the annex next door, a rehearsal space … the building annex would have classrooms for art classes, dance classes and drama classes, so we could have theater for young people, maybe art for seniors, different things. The front of the annex building would have an entrance hall extended towards the theater, as the entrance is currently not wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, and even if you have one, the toilet is upstairs. We want to build an accessible toilet in the annex, maybe two Airbnbs upstairs to make money or have a place to stay for a visiting artist or director … the project manager we worked with downstate has been wonderful for us. They came here and interviewed everyone, checked the history of the buildings in Negaunee, all the theaters in the area… everything was destroyed when the roof fell. We had a plan, and this rooftop thing kind of got in the way.
“When COVID hit, we had a full season on the books ready to go. We were in the middle of “Escanaba in da Moonlightâ€, “The Sound of Musicâ€, and events were scheduled throughout December. It was the first time that we had organized an entire season in a long time. We were about to do this renovation, we were going to do shows because we are making money for this renovation, but COVID and the falling roof stopped that.
“Now we’re trying to get a roof, but we can’t just get a roof, there are so many other things to do.
“We’re not giving up, we still want to do it, but we probably won’t be able to do the roof until next year. Our contractors and architects have examined the building and are quite confident that it will last another winter because the protections that were put in place last fall should hold up. They’re going to come in, set up the shoring system to hold the walls, tighten everything up and make sure everything is in place. There will be temporary plastic coverings on the stage, hall and balcony. They’ll fix things up and make sure they’re ready for winter.
VIP is hoping that Saturday’s benefit concert will be a success for the future of the theater. Bowers said he was grateful for the community’s support for Vista over the past year.
“We are still here and are still working on it” he said. “We know we can’t do this without the support of Negaunee and everyone who loves Vista. And, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, people have given generously to help us save this building. “
The concert begins at 7 p.m. at the Negaunee Band Shell located along Iron Street. Instead of charging for admission, VIP instead asks for a gift of free will.
The complete list of acts is as follows:
Jeff Jennings
Gerry Pirkola
≤ Ryan whiskey and Kennedy catfish
Negaunee High School Marching Band
≤ Jackie Bowers of dreamers
Leslie Parkkonen
Marcia Hicks
Negaunee High School Dance Team
Bonnie symons
Marissa Symons
Rusty arbors
Lisa Bowers
Julie williams
Isabelle Francois
Megan Flood
Allyse Belanger
Arnie spickerman
An after party will be held at Smarty’s Saloon with Whiskey Ryan and Catfish Kennedy performing at 10pm. Smarty’s pledged to donate 10% of the evening’s proceeds to the Vista Theater.
For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page at www.bit.ly/3iYnOCZ or visit the Historic Vista Theater / PAAC Facebook page at www.facebook.com/paacvistheater.
You can also visit the official Vista website at www.vistheater.org.
