• Editor’s Note: Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner authored this article and distributed it via the city’s email notice. It provides not only a good history lesson on one of the landmarks in Kane County but serves as a reminder of recent and ongoing business success, including the news that the Paramount’s Broadway Series has been nominated for 16 Jeff Awards, the most of any Chicago-area theater.
  

By Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner

It was known as “the Showplace of the Fox Valley” almost from the day it opened in September 1931. Certainly, the Paramount Theatre was the most splendid of all the movie “palaces” in Aurora, a booming city of about 50,000, which was, itself, the shopping and entertainment mecca of the mid-collar counties.

At the beautiful new Paramount Theater, raised in the midst of the Great Depression, people weighed down with poverty and bad times in general could escape grim reality, if only for an hour or two, watching the latest movie or an occasional vaudevillian act like the Marx Brothers or Jack Benny.

Skipping ahead almost 85 years, we see a Paramount Theatre that experienced some tough times, along with the rest of Aurora’s Downtown, but which, once again, has emerged as the central symbol of a proud and burgeoning community.

Six years ago, the Paramount Theatre attracted only 52,000 visitors in its entire season. Last season, the Paramount and its critically acclaimed and locally produced Broadway Series brought 300,000 visitors to our flower-filled downtown — one-and-a- half times Aurora’s present population.

And just last week, the world learned that the Paramount Broadway Series, in its first year of eligibility, received 16 nominations for the Jeff Awards , Chicago’s version of New York’s theatrical Tony Awards. It was the most nominations by far of all Chicagoland theaters.

This sparkling accomplishment confirmed what theater critics and theater-goers have been saying for the past three years:  Aurora and the Paramount offer the highest quality theater experience in the Chicago area, if not the entire Midwest.

There are many people to thank for the Paramount’s most recent success, from the ACCA Board of Directors, to the abundant theatrical talent of Chicago area actors, to the set-design folks who magically integrate forms and function, to the indispensable help of hundreds of Paramount volunteers.

But no two people deserve more credit than Tim Rater, ACCA CEO, whose vision and dream we are living, and Jim Corti, Broadway Series Producer, whose theatrical brilliance we are riding. These two gentlemen are amazingly talented, and Aurora is lucky to claim them.

The Paramount/ACCA group also manages RiverEdge Park, our new outdoor entertainment venue, which firmly established its reputation this year. On the same weekend we received the good news of the Jeff Award nominations, the Paramount’s “Happy Together” ’60s revival combined with Friday’s Led Zeppelin cover band and Earth, Wind & Fire’s sellout crowd on Saturday night to bring a total of almost 13,000 visitors to Aurora’s Downtown on a single weekend.

While the Paramount may be the most visible leader of our Downtown Artistic renaissance, there has been a parallel and equally important movement that has gathered a huge amount of force in the past two or three years. I am speaking of the proliferation of organizations and events created by Aurora’s growing artist community. First Fridays, the Art Bar and the new Wednesday concerts at MillenniumPlaza are just a few examples of an organic artistic movement that has provided a high level of spontaneity and excitement in our downtown area, bringing fun-seekers and foot traffic to see artworks, listen to music and bask in an edgy, creative environment.  Let me take a moment to thank those involved in this dynamic subculture.

All of these artistic activities, formal and informal, along with a more attractive downtown have brought renewed retail and commercial interest to our city’s center.  West Downer Place storefronts that were vacant only years ago, today host everything from a bicycle shop across from a travel agency, to a dance studio alongside a fitness studio, to a popular women’s clothier and an always-bustling cafe.

Supporting the arts is a smart practice at every level and this administration will provide continual and increasing support, directly and indirectly, for the arts — not just because a thriving arts community is good for Aurora’s reputation and image, which it most certainly is, but because it’s also good for business.

The Paramount Theatre once again reigns as the symbol of a proud city, bursting with excitement and energy. We have every reason to celebrate and every reason to continue — this Aurora tradition.

This Weekend at the Paramount

It’s going to get seriously musical at the Paramount Theatre this weekend. Check this out: you can come see a show Friday or Saturday, kick back on Sunday and STILL have your Labor Day BBQ on Monday. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Former Chicago frontman PETER CETERA rocks the Paramount on Friday, September 4, and the legendary DUKE ELLINGTON ORCHESTRA rolls into town Saturday, September 5. Make your long weekend a musical one, right here in Aurora.