The Cary Theater – It’s Open!
Cary’ Town Crier John Webster welcomes the crowd to the grand opening of The Cary.
Cary, NC — Saturday, Feb 22, 2014, The Cary theater in Downtown officially opened with a celluloid ribbon cutting, a town crier proclamation and all of town council on hand to do the honors.At 9:45am, a large crowd gathered on East Chatham Street under mild skies to witness a piece of history in the making as the building known as The Cary will once again show films and host live performances as it did back in 1946.
In his opening remarks, Mayor Weinbrecht said that he attended the groundbreaking 14 months ago, and that already the theater has sparked other development Downtown. A dozen new businesses have opened in the past year and concerts have seen a 30% increase in attendance. He mentioned the park that is moving forward and will begin construction later this year. Weinbrecht went on to state “that what happens Downtown impacts everybody (in Cary).”
With the words “lights, cameras, action” the ribbon spread across the entryway was cut by the Mayor. Then the crowd was invited inside to take a look around. Free tickets were handed out for the first movie showing of Finding Nemo at 10:30 . Other activities and free showings filled the day.
Above: Mayor Harold Weinbrecht cuts the celluloid ribbon flanked by Town Council Members, Jack Smith, Ed Yerha, Lori Bush, Jennifer Robinson (with her daughter), Gale Adcock and Don Frantz.
The crowd streams in to check out the theater
The view from the patio deck up on the roof shows many nearby small businesses engaged in car repair and parts.
Let’s make a special movie night triple header of classic car films so the employees of same and their dates, wives, kids can enjoy a car-related movie classic.
Please none of the R-rated stuff, like this weekend (2/28?)–in case some wish to bring their kids!
Some ideas:
http://jalopnik.com/the-ten-best-car-movies-you-can-stream-online-right-now-1505055405
Use this place to play cool films. Not Lifetime movies and weak family friendly plays. Play some cool art-house horror films, some French new wave and classic Japanese cinema. The art museum has already taken it upon itself to ruin any possibility of it being cool by only playing terrible films like Spiderman and Silver Linings Playbook. Doing the same to this place will only guarantee its early extinction. Make something interesting and new and people will come.
I’m with you! Let’s have some Jean Cocteau, Lena Wertmuller and Orson Welles. How about a little Juzo Itami?
You could make the same case for the Cary Arts Center and just about all the Parks & Rec offerings. Great programs and great people, hidden in plain sight.
To borrow, in good humor, from Mr. Lincoln:
“The ToC Website of the quiet past is inadequate to the present. The occasion is piled high with opportunity. As our Theater and Arts Center are new, so we must think anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, roll a new Web site and then we shall know what’s going on in Cary.”
Thank you, Mr. President.
I welcome this addition to our downtown! I am looking forward to attending several events at The Cary, and SOON!
However, I struggle to understand why the Town has sought to purposely bury every bit of information regarding what happens at The Cary on townorcary.org. A search for “The Cary” using the search function on the Town’s site would leave the layman bewildered – only if you look hard do you see a reference to The Cary indented from the lead article regarding the SK8 park. Then, as if looking to punish the user who dare go looking for such information, clicking on that link you are to a page located DEEP in the bowels of the site:
> Home > Departments > Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources > Facilities > Cultural Arts Centers > The Cary
And here you find, sadly, the typically constructed Town page used for so many things where, once again, you have to dig and claw out any information you want regarding what might happen. Apparently, very proud of the 22 Feb opening, that event still occupies the landing page today (Monday following the event).
I can only wonder why $4,000,000 does go so far as to register a domain ($5/year) and post a schedule there, or better still post the schedule on Cary Citizen! I guess I’ll have to start making information requests to learn what’s happening at the Cary, because trying to use http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Parks__Recreation___Cultural_Resources/Facilities/Cultural_Arts_Centers/thecary.htm won’t work for me. I really do hope this oversight is rapidly addressed. If we are a technology town, it’s time for us to use that technology.
Oh, and the World Cup (in Soccer, truly a GLOBAL event) is coming this summer – I do hope The Cary will be hosting watch parties for these games.
You’re an ISAB Board Member, Robert. Make it happen!
Always trying! This coming Monday, 3 March, 6PM is the ISAB meeting at Town Hall, room 10035. This is open to the public and we do have a public speaks out segment too! I do plan to ask this question.