Ramblin': New letters grace Paramount Theatre marquee

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Paramount Theatre won't be letter-perfect for at least three years, but at least it has letters.

Yep. If you've driven up Third Avenue SE recently, you may have noticed the theatre's marquee touting the upcoming Cedar Rapids Community Concert Association series. The CRCCA's donation of new letters - $2,500 worth at $5 a shot - has made at least part of the historical theater useful again.

“They had some that were up, but they lost the rest in the flood,” says Tony Staab, vice president of the CRCCA.

The Flood of 2008 was hard on the Paramount, destroying the beautiful interior restored to the tune of $7.8 million in 2004, damaging the historic Mighty Wurlitzer organ that had entertained since 1928 and washing away those 8-inch and 10-inch tall black letters.

“We wanted to do something but we didn't want to just donate money into a big pool where it would get lost,” Tony says. “We thought this was the best way for us to spend our money, for something specific.”

A twist of fate made it possible.

The CRCCA relocated to the U.S. Cellular Center after the flood. Since the larger arena allowed for the sale of balcony tickets, the board decided to channel that additional revenue to help the Paramount.

In return, says Scott Schoenike, executive director of VenuWorks, which manages the theater, CRCCA is the first group since the flood to be promoted with the new marquee letters.

“Since they donated them, we wanted them to get the biggest bang for their buck,” Scott says. “They've been such good supporters of the Paramount.”

“We'd go back to the Paramount as soon as it reopened,” says Tony, 75, active in the CRCCA for 30 years. “Now we're in a basketball arena.”

While ticket sales have been fine, Tony, retired from The Gazette advertising department, can't help but try to sell more.

“One of the great things about this organization is the pricing structure,” he says. “It's a rinky-dink price, but it's not a rinky-dink show.”

Papa Duke (actually master violinist Vasyl Popadiuk) leads off the series at 7:30 p.m. Friday with his blend of traditional Slavic, gypsy, pop and jazz music.

Also on the slate: the Barbary Coast Dixieland Band (Sept. 22), Boston Brass (Nov. 15), Mac Frampton Trio using classical techniques drawing from jazz and rock (March 23) and the western cowboy group Riders in the Sky (April 24).

A $35 CRCCA membership gets a general admission ticket to all five performances. (It's $50 for the reserved section.) Two adult tickets allow children in the immediate family to attend free.

Before the flood, membership had grown to about 1,800. While that has slipped slightly due to the change in venue, this year's first booking of a western band has generated inquires for tickets from surrounding states.

The all-volunteer CRCCA budgets $50,000 for its five annual shows and pays rent. Additional revenue is usually put into securing entertainment for the following year.

But, Tony says, the unusual circumstances last year prompted the slight change in philosophy, resulting in the donated letters to the Paramount.

“This took a year,” Tony says. “I don't know how long the next project will take. We've thought about trying to get power back to the marquee.”

Then it could promote entertainment, as it used to, well into the night.