News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Visitors to Crossville’s Palace Theater will no longer have to worry about raindrops falling on their heads.
That’s according to the theater Administrator Ronny Hill. He said repairs to the Palace Theater’s numerous leaks were well overdue.
“It’s sure a lot better when you don’t have to move every time it rains because you have a leak on your seat,” Hill said. “Or when the band members don’t have to move on stage when the stage starts leaking. So it will put a whole different aspect on it for everybody.”
Hill said leakage has been a problem for around the last 15-years. He said it took workers about four or five weeks to repair and seal the theater and its roof.
“They basically cleaned our building and then went back and sealed it,” Hill said. “They sealed the whole building. Then we also had work done to our roof. Hopefully we have solved all of our leak issues.”
The Palace Theater opened in November 1938 and operated as a first-run theater until the 1970s. It closed in 1978, and the building was vacant until the city of Crossville purchased it in 1993. The Palace Theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was later restored with public financial support.
Hill said the Theater is ready to get back up and running. He said shows are scheduled for September, but they are in doubt given continuing COVID concerns.
“Right now we’re closed down,” Hill said. “We have a maximum of 50 people is all we can have in here, which is pretty much useless. We have no shows book here until September, and they are in question right now. Actually, the people who are putting the shows on are trying to decide if they want to do the September show or not, so right now it’s really in doubt.”
Even though questions remain, Hill said the Palace Theater will be back in operation at some point. He said the artists are ready to be back on stage.
“We’re going to be back,” Hill said. “It may be more toward the spring, but we have all our artists really anxious to come back. When we start booking them, it’s going to be a flood. They all want to book, but they all want to wait.”
