The Elba Theatre was one of just 100 projects nationwide selected by Lowe’s to receive a grant as a part of Lowe’s 100 Hometowns project celebrating the company’s centennial.

The Elba Theater’s owner, Justin Maddox of Restoration 154, the nonprofit in charge of restoring the old movie theater in Elba, said that this grant is going to allow them to complete a number of major updates including more stage repairs, lighting, a second HVAC for the theater, a sound booth, storage room, dressing rooms, new railings and more.

The Elba Theater was one of 100 projects selected by Lowe’s out of more than 2,200 submissions from all across the country. The cost of the current phase of renovations at the Elba Theatre totals $154,500 and a big portion of that will be paid for with the grant from Lowe’s.

“We weren’t expecting to be able to do this work that we’re now doing because of this (grant), so that’s been a great bonus for us,” Restoration 154 board member Laurie Chapman said. “We’re really excited to be one out of 2,200 applicants that was selected because that’s a lot of applicants. It says a lot for the project and the support we’ve gotten.”

The Elba Theater was originally built in 1925 and operated through the 1960s before closing down. In subsequent years the space has been used for shops on Elba’s square before becoming abandoned.

Not only did Lowe’s provide the Elba Theater with the grant but members of the Enterprise Lowe’s team came to the Elba Theater on Aug. 31 to help with some of the updates ongoing there.

In 2011, Maddox and Restoration 154 purchased the project and began the long process of restoring it to its former glory. A number of renovations have already been completed, including a new roof, and beginning in 2020 the theater was officially opened back up for rentals. Proms, weddings and other events have already begun taking place there.

“We’re now able to hold events here,” Chapman said. “That just happened his year and with the COVID restrictions that’s kind of put a damper on some of the events we wanted to hold, but we’re planning in 2022 to do some regular programming in addition to renting the space out to private individuals, schools and different organizations.”

Chapman said that the theater will be a multi-purpose event center with movies being shown, plays, weddings, dances, art shows and many other events able to take place there.

Restoration 154 still has a number of projects still planned for the theater, including restoring balconies in the theater. One of the things Restoration 154 is most proud of is that the majority of the money that has been used on restoring the theater has come from grants rather than asking the residents of Elba for the money.

“Elba is a low income community, so our goal right from the get go was to get as many outside grants as we could so we weren’t draining the citizens of Elba asking for money over and over and over,” Chapman emphasized. “We’ve been very successful in those endeavors and it’s a lot of hard work, but we’re proud that we’ve received over $600,000 of work done and very little of that has been money from right here in Elba.”

More information on the Elba Theater can be found at elbatheatre.com.

(2) comments

gflowers123

It would be to obtain a (Grant) to repair road going out of Elba toward the bridge and National Security

gflowers123

"Good to obtain a Grant"

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