Historic theater raises funds for air conditioning

Published 12:00 am Saturday, August 2, 2014

Jack Burns, left, and Daniel Boone unbox the new air conditioning sytem for The Strand Theater.

Jack Burns, left, and Daniel Boone unbox the new air conditioning sytem for The Strand Theater.

A movie-themed fundraiser at The Main Street Market event brought to a close the fundraising during the summer aimed at bringing a climate control system to The Strand Theater that was previously closed during the sweltering summer months.

The fundraiser for the Strand Theater, located on Clay Street, included foods such as “Raiders of the Lost Artichoke,” “Beef Shank Redemption,” and “When Harry Met Salad,”

“We give each other mutual support. It was our pleasure. We want that kind of organization,” said Main Street owner Sally Bullard.

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Types of performances might include ballet, opera, and more plays and movies. The next scheduled event will be the Manhattan Film Festival at the Strand on September 27 at 7pm.

The Strand is one of the only two places in Mississippi holding the festival, where viewers will vote on their favorite short films of the ones entered.

The previous week, the Strand hosted a documentary about the video game industry.

That event raised around $200 for the air conditioning and heating unit for the theater. The movie shown was Video Games: The Movie a full-length documentary about the birth and transformation into a billion dollar industry of video games over the past 40 years. The film was funded through the website Kickstarter, and was made available for purchase online that same day as it aired across theaters in the United States and Canada.

Going from the beginning of the earliest video games, such as Space War, to recent games, the documentary shows the changes in the video game industry from its beginnings in the 1970s to the newest generation.

With the last two fundraisers, the Strand has exceeded their $10,000 goal and has purchased all the equipment needed to install air conditioning and heating. Installation has already begun and there are already plans to expand the horizons of the theater.

“Whatever we can do to make this thing grow without losing interest,” said David Haworth, co-owner of The Strand Theater.