By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The Granada Center for the Performing Arts project has been named a finalist for the 2009 Illinois Governor’s Home Town Award.

“A lot of volunteer efforts have gone into the project and this is a recognition of those efforts,” Granada President Bob Dennis said. “Just being a finalist is a big feather in our cap, or rather, a bright light in our marquee.”

In June, the Granada project as well as the Lincoln Sculpture project at the 5th District Appellate Courthouse were nominated in separate categories for a Home Town Award. The Granada board was notified earlier this week its project had been chosen as a finalist.

According to Granada Vice President David Lister, the help of Curt Mowrer and the Rend Lake College Small Business Development Center has also been instrumental to the success — and nomination — of the project.

“They wrote the Old National Bank grant that we received for the screen, and they wrote the application for the Home Town Award as well,” Lister said. “This has truly been a community effort.”

Lister said he is also proud of not only the community support for the Granada, but also the opportunity the Granada has been able to provide for children and families in the community.

“We get to show classic movies for kids and their families — since it is a requirement that children are accompanied by a parent,” Lister explained. “With the bank sponsoring it, we can do the movies for free and keep the concessions at a dollar per item. ... You can see that the kids and their parents consider the movies an event, the excitement on the kids’ faces, and their parents have dressed them up. There were a lot of kids this year whose parents said it was the first time their kids have seen a movie. They remember seeing movies there when they were kids, their parents went to the Granada and saw movies, as well as their grandparents and great-grandparents. Now, we’re able to continue that tradition. It’s an outlet where you don’t have to spend a lot of money to take a the family to see a classic movie like Snow White or the Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie that you normally can’t see at a local movie house.”

The Governor’s Home Town Awards program recognizes community improvement efforts that depend on the voluntary commitment of community residents and organizations. The project must have made outstanding contributions to the community’s overall development of quality of life, with heavy involvement from community volunteers. There are six program categories for projects which include youth involvement, senior citizen involvement, parks and recreation, clean-up/beautification and general. The nominating applications are reviewed by a team of impartial volunteer judges who conduct site visits to the finalist communities before deciding winners.

Dennis said the final site visit by the judges will be held on Aug. 5.

Lister said the Granada board has set some goals to be completed before the 77th anniversary celebration of the theater in December. Those projects are to rebuild the ticket booth out front of the theater with the help of YouthBuild, lighting the towers above the marquee.

“We believe we can do it,” Lister said. “They are very attainable.”

Some of the ways to raise the funds for the projects include an event in September, the Mt. Vernon Gong Show, which will be a spoof of the television show popular in the 1970s and 80s, and will include acts by area businesses. The show will be video taped and run on cable television channels in Mt. Vernon and Salem. Anyone who would like information on the Mt. Vernon Gong Show or getting an act in the show may call 740-0707.

Once the ticket booth and the light projects are completed, the next step for the committee is to tier the floor in the auditorium.

“That’s the next big thing to get done,” Lister said. “By tiering the floor, it makes it a multi-use facility. It could be used for conventions and other events. We’ve done our research and the market is there for it. ... We really have two spaces, where small groups of 100 to 150 can meet in the front lobby and another 600 to 700 people can be in the auditorium.”

Dennis added that volunteers are needed between now and Aug. 5, to help get the theater ready for the final judging for the award.

“We need to do some cleaning, polishing and really make it shine,” Dennis said. “Any volunteers that would like to help would be appreciated.