PEMBERVILLE — Plans to install an elevator in the historic Pemberville Opera House need a final lift to
come to fruition.
The project, which has an estimated price tag of $372,000, has gone out for bid.
So far grants and donations have accumulated $332,500.
Carol Bailey, who has spearheaded the drive, said she expects the project will need another $40,000.
The exact cost will not be known until the bids are opened July 13.
Now she’s launching a final push for funds.
The elevator will be constructed on the side of the 125-year-old building along the brick-inlaid Main
Street.
Visitors will enter into a 20-by-7-foot vestibule for their ride to the opera house on the second floor.
The project also includes handicap-accessible restrooms on the second floor.
The design maintains the integrity of the town hall’s exterior as well as the interior of the historic
venue.
The existing wall forms the back of the elevator shaft and riders will enter the upstairs through a space
now occupied by windows.
Those minimal changes to the building will mean a major improvement to the building’s accessibility.
Not only will the upstairs performance space now be accessible, but the town offices on the first floor
will also have better accessibility, Bailey said.
For the Opera House, the elevator will increase the possibilities, she said.
She noted that the Black Swamp Players have expressed interest in returning to the Pemberville stage, but
the long fight of stairs is a deterrent.
Bailey said the venue has lost wedding receptions, meetings and other events because of the long climb.

The drive got a jump start in November 2013 when the elevator project secured $220,000 in state capital
funding. At that time, Bailey noted, that would have been about two-thirds of the cost. In July 2014,
the project received a county development grant of $53,000. The balance has come from donations.
“This is my final push,” Bailey said of the current fundraising efforts. Now she’ll tap her email list
for those supporters of the Opera House and its concert series Live in the House, which presents shows
from September through May.
Fundraising “is not exactly what I like to do,” she said. “I like to hire entertainers and put on shows.”

Still, the drive to raise funds for the elevator has been “a good experience.
“People have been so generous,” Bailey said. “We’re a small town and this is a huge task.”