Dear editor,

The Strand Theater is my favorite place in downtown Vicksburg. The community that Jack Burns and Daniel Boone have built around a love of theater, cinema and music is such a bright spot in our town.

Vicksburg’s arts scene is small but mighty, with award-winning galleries and an active, close-knit creative community. We have the Parkside Playhouse to offer productions of traditional plays and musicals. We have the B&B Cinema to screen blockbuster fare. But we need the Strand to offer screenings of arthouse films, foreign films, documentaries, and more, and to delight us with offbeat, exuberant stage productions. The Manhattan Short Film Festival! The Rocky Horror Picture Show! Avenue Q! Cat Video Fest! Anyone who has attended (or hosted, or performed in) a screening or production at the Strand knows how special it is, and how lucky we are to have it. 

I was heartbroken to learn that The Strand might lose access to their theater space.

We have all missed our community events so much this past year. We’ve gotten a taste of what life is like without the magic of creative community spaces, and it’s terrible. I hope our community can rally to find a solution to preserve The Strand. Without it, Vicksburg would be a less interesting, less joyful, less connected place to live. 

Elissa Yeates

Vicksburg