EARLVILLE — When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, the Earlville Opera House (EOH) won't just be ringing in the new year; they'll be ringing in their 50th year as a multi-arts center.

While the building itself is nearing 130 years old, and has always served as an opera house, for the last 50 years area residents have enjoyed the multiple forms of art presented at the EOH.

"The Earlville Opera House has traditionally been known as a presenting organization, meaning we present music. The fact that we have three gallery spaces here and we do workshops makes us a multi-arts center, meaning we have multi-disciplines happening here," said EOH Executive Director Michelle Connelly.

She said the facility is now recognized as a cultural service provider as well.

"With the addition of us taking on the State Community Regrant Program, we're also now a cultural service provider on top of being a presenter and a multi-arts center. So we're a cultural service provider meaning that we help a field in the tri-county area through grants and technical assistance and that sort of thing. Help them emerge."

The 50-year milestone will be celebrated throughout all of 2022, with several past performers, and a few new ones, set to take the EOH stage once again.

"We are planning yearlong activities. We booked a season with favorite performers of the past. So we did a survey to our patrons, and we asked them to go to our website where we have a Hall of Fame, and it lists all the performers that we've had here for decades. And we asked them to pick their top favorite, not only performers, but genres of music," Connelly explained. "So based on our feedback, we booked our season which will start in February, through December. We have 13 main stage productions lined up with favorites from the past."

"We tend to infuse a lot of history of the past into each one of the events that we're going to be having, and we will also be talking about our vision for the future," she added.

Connelly said the full schedule for 2022 is expected to be announced in mid-January, and that special promotions such as season tickets may be offered.

After the new year, Connelly said there will be a committee meeting to discuss additional planning for the upcoming year. The EOH committee is also looking for community involvement, and are asking the public to contact the opera house with their ideas.

"We're just looking for people that had a good time here and want to continue having good times," said Connelly. "We want ideas. Somebody was like, you should have a vaudeville show that charges the same ticket rate as you did in 1895 or something. So we're like, yeah, that's a great idea. So we're just looking for fun things, a way to get the public engaged and help us participate in our mission."

"We're just taking the best ideas that people have, and we're going to make them happen," she added.

Connelly said the EOH also held a contest last year for local artists to design a logo for their 50th anniversary. The winner was Ann Coe of Ann's Designs in Norwich, and her logo design is now proudly displayed on Earlville Opera House merchandise.

"We called all professional art designers last year and put out a call for them to design a logo for our 50th anniversary. So that was a nice competition in which Ann Coe ... she was the winner of our logo contest," said Connelly. "So we now have her logo, which goes into our archives [and] on merchandise. So we've got 50th anniversary T-shirts, and tumblers, and mugs, and all sorts of cool stuff that people will be able to purchase next year to help support us and spread the word about our 50 years."

The EOH will also be continuing their outdoor courtyard series, the Arts Cafe series, and officials are planning a celebration event for September 22, 2022.

"The savior of the opera house, he's a political activist named Joey Skaggs. He is the one who in 1970 saved this building from demolition and sold it to a group of local volunteers for a dollar, and he is going to be coming back next year. We have a performance scheduled on September 22 with David Bromberg. And that's a huge name, huge artist as well," said Connelly. "That date is going to be our main celebration date where Joey will be back, and we'll have some other activities that go on that features things from the past."

A few improvements will be coming to the EOH facility as well. Connelly said upgrades include gaining permits to serve alcohol, and switching the nearly 130 year old theater from analog to digital.

"It's been hard. Not only the pandemic, but we've been having to compete with a lot of local breweries that have been popping up and presenting the same kind of music we do. You know, our kind of folk music," she said. "So we've actually been getting permits to serve alcohol here. Beer, wine, cider, and that sort of thing."

"One of our future plans is, we are going to be upgrading our 1892 theater from analog to digital in the next year, so that's going to be a major improvement for this facility as well," she continued. "Lots of good stuff starting the next 50 years."