OUTLOOK - Little by little, it appears as though the once-thriving Bounty Theatre hall is on the brink of making a comeback as the exterior of the building has seen noticeable upgrades that were made recently.
Updated roofing, new windows, concrete laid along the walking ramp pathway, and a new splash of yellow paint have done wonders in bringing a sense of relevancy to the legendary performance venue, which during its heyday saw acts such as the Bounty Bluebirds, the Fertile Valley Band, and the Dallas Orchestra perform for their weekly dance nights.
The hall was relocated from its hometown roots in Bounty to the site of the Outlook & District Heritage Museum back in August 2014. Plans were made toward the hall over the years by its dedicated committee that would see it get on the pathway to making a return, but like any other project where the goals or fulfillment is determined by consistent financial support, there were peaks and valleys. Now, with the outside of the building having seen improvements, attention moves toward the inside of the multi-generational venue.
Kate King is the manager of the Outlook museum, and right now she's in the middle of calculating and coming up with figures to see what it'll take financially to bring the Bounty Theatre back to prominence. At the moment, she already sees it costing in the neighbourhood of $120,000 for electrical work, ventilation and further paint jobs. Although the project needs volunteers, she says that people are excited about the Bounty Theatre, as she hears questions that are being asked on a regular basis about the state of the hall.
Right now, the building's electrical needs seem to be one of the first priorities.
"The stage needs all new gyprock, and we're looking to get funding for electrical," said Kate. "We need to get that, and I'm putting together a project budget and start applying for corporate grants. Our fundraising events from the Prairie Festival, that's what paid for the paint and some of what you see in here."
King says she'd like to see some of the original musicians take to the stage who played the Bounty Theatre back in its heyday.
"When it is open, we'd like to have some of the original bands who played in here show up," she said. "Like the Myrol Brothers, they want to come! Once we can get in here, we can also hold fundraisers that hopefully people will support."
Kevin Trew, the Town of Outlook's chief administrative officer, says in his role with the hall, he encourages people to donate to the project to hopefully see the venue open back up for future generations to see and enjoy.
"Anybody can donate to the museum directly," he said. "Just give us a call, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. If the donation is for the Bounty hall, it'll go straight to the hall and support that project. We're doing some different fundraising, and right now we have a good start to what we want to do financially. Of course, the Town is supporting the project by providing a staff member part-time to help coordinate volunteers and get some of the work done, and we're really happy with that. We started a budget on what it'll take just to get it open, but that doesn't mean that it's useable yet, as we're not quite there yet. We're hoping to be there this fall."
Trew estimates that the project is looking at a sizable amount that will be needed to ensure that things get completed the way that everyone wants them to be. The work is being looked at in stages, with the goal to reach each one before the doors can open on the hall.
"We figure that there's probably another $50-100K needed to finish it the way we'd like to," he said. "Get it to the point where it's useable and we can actually rent it out, and that would be a good goal. We also have a longer-term plan to add on to it with a kitchen and bathrooms. We've got a lot of different financial plans and phases, so our first phase is to get it to a point where we can open it to the public to see. The next phase would be actually being able to have people rent it. Then the last phase is to have it be fully functional."
With the hall's electricity being moved to the back, Trew says the town is paying for it as a part of Outlook's railyard subdivision. There's hope that with the move, the power at the museum will also be upgraded, as it's also seen as very 'original'.
Funds that have been raised for the Bounty Theatre from events such as the mentioned Prairie Festival have been used up. Anyone who may be interested in donating to the hall can do so by dropping their donation off at the markets held each Friday at the museum, or by mailing a cheque to Box 1095 in Outlook, postal code S0L 2N0. Museum manager King also says that she's going to set up an e-transfer system to handle online donations.
