The Paramount Theater – Page 10

The blade has landed at the Paramount

The last piece of the recreation of the historic Paramount Theater was hoisted into place Thursday morning when the 33′ blade was secured to the front of the theater.

“This is giving me chills,” says Jane Belisle, one of the onlookers gathered on the Downtown Mall around 9:30am to watch a crane hoist the 3,000-pound Blade into the air and over to the front of the Paramount.

The new sign started its journey December 2 in Ohio from Wagner Signs, which specializes in theatrical and vertical signs, says Katherine Davis, Paramount marketing director. From there it went to Hightech Signs in Charlottesville, and then to the mall for installation at 6:30am December 3.

There was a brief bit of welding an extra 1.25 inches on the support beams in the front of the theater to make everything fit, according to Davis. “They said that wasn’t uncommon,” she says.

“We found drawings of the original blade in the theater,” says Davis. “This is an exact replica of the sign that hung from 1931 to the 1960s.”

The new blade costs $175,000, including shipping, installation and the all-LED lightbulbs. So far, the Paramount has raised a little more than $160,000, and Davis expects the fundraising goal to be met in a final push before December 15, when it will be lit for the first time.

Construction crews prepare for the Blade

Signs and sandwich boards on the historic Downtown Mall may soon be outshone by the reinstallation of a much anticipated, 33-foot sign at the Paramount Theater.

As the theater celebrates its 10th anniversary of reopening, construction crews prepare to bring back the Blade—a $175,000 project to put the Paramount’s iconic blade sign back in its place. This vertical symbol hung above the marquee from 1931, when the theater was built, until the 1960s.

While companies Nielsen, Schickel and Hightech Signs are overseeing the installment, they aren’t quite ready to hang the Blade.

“I don’t think they have raised enough money,” says Pete Foster from Hightech Signs. He says the crews currently are working on pre-installation, so when the sign is ready, they won’t have to waste any time putting it up. The Paramount is aiming to hang the sign by December, he adds.

Rosemary Miller, the Paramount’s assistant director of development, says through Bring Back the Blade button sales and individual contributions, they have raised $103,556. She adds that the campaign ends on December 15 at an illumination celebration, in which the blade will be lit for the first time.

Visit the Paramount’s Bring Back the Blade campaign to donate to the project.