The year-end matching campaign to help fund renovation of the Ellendale Opera House was a huge success.

Contributions totaling nearly $10,000 were made to the capital campaign between November 15 and December 31.

Initially, anonymous supporters pledged to match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000. But when donations grew past $5,000, those same supporters agreed to up the ante to match the total $10,000 received during the campaign.

As a result, $20,000 will be added to the Opera House “Building Our Future & Preserving Our Past” capital campaign fund. With the year-end contributions, the non-profit charitable group that owns the Main Street landmark, is nearly a third of the way toward its Phase I goal of $560,000.

The first phase of Opera House renovation would include restoration of the remaining storefronts, replacement of building windows, landscaping, repairs to the basement and installation of utilities to enable the first-level storefronts to be leased.

The Phase I plans and capital campaign were announced last September.

“We’re grateful for the great support we’ve received for the project,” Justin Meidinger, Executive Director, said. “With completion of the first phase of the building renovation we’ll be able to bring the historic landmark back to life and encourage greater economic activity on Main Street.”

“We’d like to publicly thank everyone for their financial support of the year-end matching campaign, as well as those supporters who contributed to our organization throughout the year,” Meidinger said.

O.P.E.R.A., Inc. – Organization of People in Ellendale for Restoration of the Arts – was formed 27 years ago to save the building from the wrecking ball. It has raised and spent $300,000 to repair the four-story 1909 building, replacing the roof, fixing the foundation and restoring one of the storefronts into the Opera House Lobby & Gallery space.

Click on the DONATE button on the top of this page for information on how you can make a contribution to the capital campaign.