The King Opera House Board is preparing for its part in the Restoration Days celebration and at the same time getting ready to shut down Sept. 1 to complete its auditorium renovation. The auditorium renovation includes new seating, along with new carpet, wall covering and paint.

The King Opera House will hosted an Iowa Main Street Community Presentation on elevating Albia’s historic character on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 6 p.m., and will show the freee children’s movie “Bob the Builder Mega Machine,” Saturday, Aug. 29 at 10 a.m. and will host a free Christian concert at 2 p.m. featuring, Erskine, a former Division I basketball player, now a rising Nashville Christian singer/songwriter.

Activity at the King begins on Sept. 1 when local seating contractor, Nathan Poe and his Expert’s Edge team will begin removing the 1947 era seats. The old seats are available for sale in pairs (see Facebook page for pricing) and proceeds will go to the auditorium renovation fund. Seats must be purchased and removed the week they are taken out of the theater. As soon as the seats are removed, the old carpeting will be removed, the old wall covering will come down and volunteers will fill the screw holes and prepare for Absolute Cleaning to commercially clean and wax the floor. Then Expert’s Edge will immediately begin installing the new seats, that are USA made in Michigan. Volunteers will be installing new fabric wall covering throughout the auditorium and painting the walls and the front of the stage. Finally, Mick Furniture will lay the new carpet in the auditorium.

Work is expected to be completed by mid-October.

Fund-raising continues for this $250,000 Phase II portion of the entire restoration project. That effort has been boosted by an anonymous donor who is pledging to match up to $10,000 for money donated to the seating fund until the end of the year. The cost of a new theater chair is $500, but any level of donation can be used for the matching funds. 

An example of the new theater chair is in the foyer of the opera house and Restoration Days visitors are invited into the theater during and after the children’s movie on Saturday to take a look at it and other completed renovations.

Send your tax deductible matching donation to:

Monroe County Iowa Foundation

Memo: KOH Matching Seating Fund

Mail to:

Monroe County Iowa Foundation

1 Benton Ave. West

Albia, Iowa 52531