ABOUT US

Dear Friends,

Spring is here and Vergennes is certainly looking vibrant. Main Street today is a strikingly different place than the Main Street of just a few years ago. Nearly every storefront is filled, and shoppers and diners think of Vergennes no longer as a place to pass through, but as a destination to head for. Innumerable efforts large and small have propelled this change, and this wildfire of transformation has spread to nearly every nook and cranny of our city. It represents the very best of what can happen when a community rallies together behind a cause that matters.

 “…among the many attributes that make Vermont so remarkable is its abiding sense of community…take a look at Vergennes. A few years ago this historic little city was beginning to look like a ghost town. Now it is reaping the benefits of a spirited community effort to restore the Vergennes Opera House.”      —Burlington Free Press

We’re proud of our role in providing that initial ‘spark’ and we delight in the opportunity to continue to play a starring role in a revitalized and reenergized community. There are very few venues in Vermont where you can be close enough to the action to see the rosin dust rise from the bow, or the raised eyebrow from one performer to another signaling a job well done.

Thanks to your support and that of many others, the Vergennes Opera House has become much, much more than a performance space. I’d like to offer three cheers for Vergennes, whose appearance once more mirrors its spirit, and whose Opera House is again filled with the sound of music and the joy of laughter!

Joe Perrotto, Chairman

Our Mission

The continuing mission, as well as the current services provided by the Friends of the Vergennes Opera House, involves the restoration, revitalization and preservation of our landmark opera house for the Vergennes area and the region by:

Ø developing our historic opera house into a cultural,

   performing arts and community center;
Ø presenting a diverse range of high quality performances

   that expand the community’s cultural experiences;
Ø promoting educational programs for children and adults

   that nurture the performing arts in school and

   community life;
Ø encouraging artists in the development and

   presentation of their work.

A Community Tradition

The Vergennes Opera House is certainly part of a grand tradition of community-based "Opera Houses" that served, historically, as cultural centers and performing arts facilities throughout the United States.

Built in 1897 by, and for the people of Vergennes it cost $12,000 and took one year to complete. Adorned with the same beautifully painted mainstage curtain you see today, it opened its doors and welcomed many famous people including President Garfield, and Tiny Tim. It hosted political rallies and debates, weddings, school graduations, town meetings, and scores of musical and theatrical performances. In 1901 the Edison Company brought an amazing invention to the Opera House, the Projecting Kinetoscope, and showed three short films by the famous director Edwin S.Porter. That was the first time moving pictures were seen in the Addison County area. Since those early days, both the movies and the Vergennes Opera House have undergone a great many changes.

By the early 1970’s the Opera House had fallen into a bad state of disrepair and was closed. It stayed in darkness for 24 years until a group of volunteers decided to raise money to save it. The group named themselves the Friends of the Vergennes Opera House and with a great deal of help from the community, successfully raised and invested more than $1.5 million in the building — a monumental effort for such a small community.

The Opera House proudly reopened its doors in July, 1997 with a performance by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Today it serves the 2,500 residents of Vergennes and a population of over 20,000 people from the surrounding area. It is once again a vibrant, cultural and community performing arts facility presenting a diverse range of high quality, accessible performances and educational programs for children and adults. It is indeed unique and the concerted effort to restore it has served as a catalyst for the revitalization of the entire Vergennes community.

The Friends of the Vergennes Opera House are proud to be one of a network of Vermont community organizations working diligently to revitalize and reenergize historic opera houses and similar facilities as centers of Vermont community life.