Columbiana’s crown jewel of the arts premieres

Columbiana’s crown jewel of the arts premieres

A little piece of the glitz and glamor of Holly-wood dazzled the town square of Columbiana Thursday night when the Main Street Theater ushered in its grand-opening weekend.

Don Arthurs, a co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Turning Technologies, and his wife, Dawn, purchased the old Columbiana Cinema a year ago. Don, who grew up in the town and had fond memories of the cinema, decided to take a gamble on community pride, investing $1 million in the theater’s revitalization.

We’ll bet that gamble will reap rich dividends for the theater, for Columbiana and for the entire Mahoning Valley.

The cinema, which opened in 1952 as The Manus Theater, has been entirely restored. Noteworthy amenities include a new 1,000-square-foot performing arts stage, 440 new seats, high-tech lighting and majestic red carpeting. While The Main Street Theater will function mainly as a movie house, it will also enrich the community with live performing arts events, including a Mother’s Day program today.

Tourist attractions

The theater will surely complement the growing list of tourist attractions in the downtown area, including rows of antique shops and the Das Dutch Haus shopping, lodging, dining and entertainment complex. That will make Columbiana more of a must-stop for organized tours.

On a broader plain, its likely success in reinvigorating Columbiana will reflect positively on the quality of cultural life throughout the Mahoning Valley.

One year ago, Arthurs had a vision that the cinema could be so much more than the quaint but aging movie house it had become in the town square. Today, he and his wife’s investment of time, talent, energy and capital validate a classic Hollywood storyline: Dreams really can come true.

It is now up to residents of Columbiana and throughout the Mahoning Valley to make this new crown jewel of Columbiana County arts the success it so richly deserves to be.