When the Empress turned 100, the present owner, the Town of Fort MacLeod, began creating plans for a year long centennial celebration. The Fort MacLeod Gazette ran a story on the theatre and the upcoming celebration in its online edition on May 09, 2012. It is reproduced in part below.
first 100 years of Empress
Frank McTighe, MACLEOD GAZETTE EDITOR | Posted on May 09 2012.
Fort Macleod’s cultural hub is gearing up for a year-long centennial celebration.
The Empress Theatre’s 100th anniversary celebration kicks off June 29, with 100 days of programming planned.
“I can’t imagine what it would have been like here 100 years ago,” Empress Theatre Society president Debbie Sutley said. “There would have been workmen sawing, hammering, putting mortar on bricks.”
Sutley said the idea of a centennial anniversary likely never crossed the minds of the men who built the theatre.
“They wouldn’t even have imagined it lasting 100 years,” Sutley said. “But we’re going to celebrate it.”
Built in 1912, the Empress Theatre lays claim to being the oldest continually operating theatre in Alberta.
From Vaudeville shows to silent movies, to “talkies” and concerts featuring the world’s top performers, the Empress Theatre has always been an entertainment hub.
Now a designated Alberta historic resource, the theatre was under private ownership until the Town of Fort Macleod took over, now leasing the building for $1 a year to the non-profit Empress Theatre Society.
“We are very proud of everyone who kept the theatre going,” Sutley said.
The Empress Theatre Society held a news conference last week in the Green Room to introduce plans for the centennial celebration.
Read on at the Fort MacLeod Gazette