Grand Sunset Theatre opens in Grande Prairie. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

Community

Grande Sunset Theatre raises $40,000 for local charities and organizations in 2020

Nov 19, 2020 | 2:25 PM

The Grande Sunset Theatre says that it has raised $40,000 for local charities and organizations this past summer.

“In terms of fundraising, I think we did quite well,” said Lionel Robins the President of the Grande Sunset Theatre. “We had, I believe, 13 weekends that were events that we ran ourselves and our average funds that we raised per weekend we just over $1,000, then there were some other nights we brought in third parties to put on fundraiser events.”

“NItehawk Adventure Park had their fundraiser with the live comedians, Gord Bamford came and did his live concert to raise money for the Canadian Mental Health Association. There were some smaller events like the A&W Drive for MS night. If we add it all up, I’d say somewhere around $40,000 was raised for charities and other non-profits.”

Charity groups that were interested in earning some extra cash were also involved with the operations of the drive-in.

“We actually kind of did most of the security and rule-following protocols and took the lead on that,” explained Robbins. “Realistically for us, it was more about getting the charities involved to kind of have an excuse to give them the profits for the night.”

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

“In a lot of cases, on the slower nights, it was simply a matter of having one or two people there getting the vehicles parked, helping with the sanitization duties, so we made it so it was very little work and effort for the most part of these charities.”

Robins added that the volunteers who helped out throughout the year did a great job.

With the theatre season now over, Robins and his team say they’re still looking to utilize the facility in the winter.

“This is the first weekend we’re going into where we don’t have anything going on. We definitely have seen some user groups coming in and I suspect there’s going to be a few more. We’ve had a few inquires about doing a Christmas Eve mass and a few ideas tossed around to use the theatre for the offseason.”

They also plan to improve the theatre experience next season.

“We’ve got all kinds of plans to get even bigger and better in the spring and hopefully, knock on wood, AHS allows us to have some concessions with people delivering right to the vehicles and keep enhancing the experience and making it better.”

Robins tells EverythingGP that the plan is to keep the Grande Sunset Theatre in the Swan City for the long run. When the theatre land was leased to Robins and his partners, Evergreen Park and the theatre agreed to a six-year lease.

While the theatre gave a chance for charities to make some extra cash, it also provided a chance for people to enjoy a physically distanced night out during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is one of the reasons why it was so popular.

Even if life returns to a more “normal” routine next spring and summer, Robins thinks the theatre will continue to have success.

“There’s going to be a lot more to do once the economy opens up a bit, but we’ve got a lot of positive responses from people that’ve been waiting for the drive-in theatre to come back. Even if we are operating on a slightly smaller scale, we also see the ability to do some live events.”

He adds many of the events they put on this summer could be held long down the road.

“Why can’t we have a concert at the Grande Sunset Theatre with the screen utilized in the background, but people could come a bring their lawn chairs? We’ll put 2,000 people in there with lawn chairs and have concert stuff. I think the Grande Sunset Theatre will continue to grow through a lot of non-movie type events and it’ll sustain itself for sure.”

Information regarding upcoming events on the Grande Sunset Theatre can be found on their Facebook page.