Winnipeg’s Park Theatre celebrating 20 years

Cory Thomas talks about the Park Theatre’s 20th anniversary celebration, which includes a series of special events.

A popular music venue in Winnipeg is marking a significant milestone this month.

Park Theatre, located in Winnipeg’s South Osborne neighborhood, is celebrating its 20th anniversary throughout September with a series of concerts and events for music fans.

The building was first built in 1914 as a movie theatre and was purchased by its current owner Erick Casselman in 2005.

“When Erick first opened it, it was a video store/café where you could rent movies and video games,” said Corey Thomas, a long-time show promoter at the theatre. “And it slowly morphed from that into a music venue, as we peppered in shows for bands here and there, and then it’s pivoted from being a café/video rental store into a full-time event centre.”

The Park Theatre hosts more than 300 events per year, ranging from concerts to comedy to live-theatre and movie screenings.

The venue has a capacity of 550 people.

Thomas said the theatre is a jumping-off place for bands of a certain level.

“A lot of these bands have grown up with us over the last 20 years too, where we’d give them their first shot,” he said. “A band like the Blue Stones are pretty big now, but I remember booking them in our room six years ago for 50 people, and now they do two nights in our room, and they’ll sell it out.”

A full list of events this month for the 20th anniversary can be found on the theatre’s website.

-With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagace