STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
Photo courtesy Grande Sunset Theatre Facebook
Community

Grande Sunset Theatre gets new ownership and management

May 31, 2023 | 1:04 PM

Operations have been taken over for Grande Prairie’s outdoor theatre at Evergreen Park.

The Grande Sunset Theatre started during the Covid-19 pandemic, originally in the Bullets & Broadheads parking lot in the city.

Through its time the Grande Sunset Theatre provided a way for local non-profits to raise money through volunteering for regular movie showings or renting the theatre for a fee to cover expenses and show their own films.

The old drive-in experience has shifted its business model and the sale of the operations has been granted to the Grande Prairie Family Education Society.

Grande Sunset Theatre President Lionel Robins said in a news release; “The community needed something to do when everything else was locked up and with the help of my many co-founders and other supporters we created an entertainment venue that could operate through virtually and lockdown scenario.”

“With the restrictions behind us we realized the community really embraces and needed this theatre to continue, and so we transitioned to a long-term business plan, but our intention was never to keep it to ourselves for a for-profit enterprise,” Robins said.

Executive Director for the GPFES Brandy Pilon said in the same release; “We are very happy to carry on Grande Sunset’s proud tradition of offering family-friendly entertainment for the area, creating a fundraising model for our organization that matches the family values that form the core of our existence.”

The Grande Sunset Theatre Facebook page posts regularly for the drive-in’s movie schedule during the open season. The 2023 season has been delayed due to wildfires and the transfer of ownership.