Lamp Theatre hosting flea market

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

It will be months before The Lamp Theatre in Irwin gets back to performances, but a little bit of normal will return this weekend as the venue hosts an old-fashioned community bazaar/flea market.

The event will run from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with a variety of donated flea market items for sale and hot dogs on the grill, according to general manager Bill Elder.

“I hope people show up because I have a lot of stuff here,” Elder said.

The bazaar is the latest effort to keep the community-owned theater afloat after canceling shows for the past year, along with its annual benefit gala.

“We’ve done a few things at Quinn’s Brewery, but this is the first big one we’ve done on our property,” Elder said.

The theater has held regular “corn-teen” popcorn sales throughout the past year, and more of the fundraising popcorn will be available this weekend. Elder said a number of the perishable items that had been donated for last year’s gala have been raffled off over the past year.

“Everything else is being held for the next gala, whenever it’s going to be,” he added.

Elder said the theater has taken every possible measure to remain viable during the pandemic, awaiting the time when it can open again for live entertainment.

“During the pandemic, we had thousands and thousands of historic theaters closed down. We’ve applied for the Save Our Stages grant. There were a lot of things for private entities that we didn’t qualify for,” Elder said. “We were looking globally. Everybody has provided some type of relief for the arts. The United States was one of the last to do it, but we knew it would be coming.”

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