– Photo provided by Bill Seipel

ELMWOOD — Nearly 100 years old, the Palace Theater reopened last week for the first time since June 5, 2010, when a tornado severely damaged the venue, along with several other buildings in Elmwood’s downtown business district.

Utilizing insurance funds, funds from a federal Community Development Assistance Program (CDAP) grant and funds donated from people who wanted the theater to reopen, Vern Reynolds, owner of the Palace Theater, 122 W. Main St., Elmwood, invested “around $450,000” rebuilding the theater that was damaged when a tornado collapsed the west wall of its auditorium and left the seating area covered with brick and debris.
Among the funds utilized to rebuild the Palace Theater, around $10,000 was raised through the efforts of a “Save the Palace” committee that formed to centralize community efforts towards rebuilding the theater that opened in 1913.
“A couple days after the tornado I created a website called savethepalace.com and set it up to take online donations,” said Bill Seipel, a member of the Save the Palace Committee. “I also had T-shirts made and sold those off the website as well. There was a benefit that me and a couple of other people setup last year to help raise money for the Palace (Theater) as well.”
Funds collected through the Save the Palace Committee as well as other funds donated for the purpose of rebuilding the theater, allowed Reynolds to further renovate the venue.
“We’ve had some people who have been donating money, allowing us to buy some things that we ordinarily wouldn’t be able to buy, such as seats and stuff like that,” said Reynolds.
In addition to adding comfier seats, Reynolds added a new roof, a heating and air conditioning system, refinished birch hardwood floors, a new screen, new screen curtains and drapers, new lights and light fixtures as well as other new features to the renovated Palace Theater.
“We pretty much have a new auditorium,” said Reynolds. “It’s beautiful.”

Damage caused by the tornado  –  Photo provided by Bill Seipel

Reynolds, who has owned the Palace Theater since 1979, has also installed emergency lighting in the theater basement, where around 70 patrons took shelter when the tornado damaged the auditorium wall last year, to the renovated venue.
Palace Theater hosted private screenings on the nights of July 26, 27 for volunteers, donors, city and state officials and the patrons who were in the theater when the tornado damaged it. It held its first public screening that featured the movie “Cars 2” at 7 p.m. July 29. The theater is now open to the public and plays films at 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and at 2:30, 7 and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Despite raising ticket prices from $3 to $4, Reynolds thinks business will be “really good within the next year.”
“People have wanted the theater so bad and I think they’re going to be willing to support it more than they have been before,” said Reynolds. “It’s been the number one thing that the Elmwood community wanted rebuilt. The community has pulled together to get their theater back.”
For more information on the Palace Theater, visit palace.reynoldstheatres.com.