Tuesday evening, there was a grand opening open house at the Orpheum Theatre, allowing community members to take a peek at the renovations. It was restored by preservationist Christopher Enck and transitioned from a children’s museum to a wedding and event venue.
For the open house, the space was set up as a mock wedding reception with hors d’oeuvres (on tables and passed) from Michael’s Catering, a bar with specialty mocktails, and a full reception set up in the main room.
There are vintage furniture pieces throughout the venue, creating small sitting areas for guests that want to dip out for a conversation, as well as a sort of private “getting ready” area for wedding party people in the space that used to house the slide and astronomy-themed portion of the museum.
The main theatre room hasn’t changed much, but looks refreshed. It was elaborately designed for a wedding that is much fancier than mine was, and gave guests a visual of how the space could be used for such an event.
The next addition will be a update of the outdoor patio (previously the dino dig area) for outdoor ceremonies, cocktail hour, and such.
There are some interesting pieces scattered about, like this old-timey radio.
And this chair, which (I looked up the words) seems to be from a school in Wales.
It was sort of sweet to notice, on my way out, that these dinosaur feet will be forever cemented (pun intended) in the Orpheum’s history. If you want to read up on all of the Orpheum’s history, you can do that here.
You can follow updates about the venue on Instagram. I don’t see a link or option to book the space yet, but I imagine that information will be forthcoming.