Tony Leys

tleys@dmreg.com

CEDAR RAPIDS, Ia. — With the threat of flood waters looming, more than 100 volunteers took less than three hours Sunday to remove 880 seats from the main floor of the grand old Paramount Theatre.

The landmark, which opened in 1928, is just a block from the Cedar River. It was inundated by the flood of 2008, which trashed the seats, the carpet, the walls and its signature Wurlitzer organ. It left a soggy, slimy, moldy mess. After hand-wringing over whether to rebuild it elsewhere, community leaders decided to restore it in place — at a cost of $35 million in federal, state and local money.

So after the call for assistance went out on Facebook Saturday night, more than 100 volunteers showed up Sunday morning. “The Paramount is our crown jewel. We love it,” explained Jan Rosauer, stage manager.

Residents of 5,000 Cedar Rapids homes asked to evacuate

First, organizers put numbered stickers on each seat, so they could be replaced in order later. Then members of the local Carpenters Union took the seats apart, and set them in the aisles. Volunteers, including many local musicians and amateur actors, lined up and lugged the seats up into the balcony for safekeeping.

Theater managers expressed awe at the effort of the volunteers, who included local high-school band members who decided to help save the theater instead of participating in a music competition.

To receive frequent updates and warnings about Iowa flooding on your smartphone, download The Des Moines Register app and enable push notifications.

“You can see the community cares a lot about this place,” said Amy Phelps of Iowa City, who plays cello in Orchestra Iowa. “The show must go on.”

Jason Anderson, the theater’s general manager, still hopes that the floodwater won’t reach the theater, or that it will only cause minor damage. But he said the staff decided Saturday that they couldn’t bank on it.

Sandbags were piled around the theater, and the windows were covered with taped X’s. A backup generator was set up to keep sump pumps running. The restored organ was schlepped upstairs.

The theater’s intricate carpet is staying put, however. “It’s all glued down, so I think you’d ruin it either way,” Anderson said.

The manager said that after the 2008 flood, theater leaders considered building a new one on higher ground, as the University of Iowa did with Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City. But they decided the Paramount was irreplaceable. “It looks just like it did in 1928. You couldn’t recreate that in a new building,” he said.

FLOODING RESOURCES:

Cheers could be heard from the theater’s main floor Sunday when someone shouted from the balcony that the last seat had been delivered upstairs. Afterward, Anderson stood onstage, thanking the volunteers and asking them to leave their contact information with organizers, who already are planning another blitz to put the seats back in place.

Anderson hopes shows Thursday, Friday and next Sunday – by Grace Potter, Ole and Lena and Celtic Thunder – could still go on if the floodwaters merely lap at the theater instead of pouring in.

After the volunteers left, the staff planned to sandbag the last open door. Then they would go home and hope for the best.