Bend’s historic downtown theatre is making history of its own. Over the past several months, the landmark venue—owned and operated by the nonprofit Tower Theatre Foundation—hosted its 1,000th event, welcomed its 250,000th theatre-goer, and signed up a record 425 members.
The Tower marked its first milestone when it hosted event number 1,000 since re-opening in 2004. The program was an exhibition in December by Acrovision Sports Center.
Then, July 3, during the Foundation’s patriotic concert by Cascade Horizon Band and screening of the movie musical 1776, Helen Loeffler of Bend officially became the 250,000 person to attend an event at the renovated theatre.
During the final performance September 25 of Cat Call Production’s Little Shop of Horrors the Foundation registered its 425th Tower member – the highest number of supporters since the membership program began in 2006.
“Achieving these three benchmarks is a convincing sign the Tower is growing and continuing to serve the community, even during difficult economic times,” said Ray Solley, executive director of the Tower Theatre Foundation.
Kim Medford, chair of the Foundation, added, “The Tower is Bend’s cultural living room. Widespread public support of the Tower is vital to its success, and to our quality of life in Central Oregon. The board and staff are looking forward to setting even more records in the near future.”
