Excitement Builds for new Calendar
BY ISAIAH FRIZZELL
The Liberty Theater has been a vital source of the Hailey arts and entertainment scene for nearly 80 years. Built in 1938, the Art Deco beauty became a community centerpiece for movies, live performances and engaging speakers. It’s widely known that Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, along with investors, purchased the Liberty in 1995, along with several other buildings, in an effort to revitalize Hailey. In 1996, Company of Fools moved into the theater and proceeded to put on a variety of nationally renowned productions, making Hailey an arts destination. In 2013, the Sun Valley Center for the Arts merged with Company of Fools to form a powerhouse art troupe combining visual, performing and educational art events that solidified the entity as both an historic and cultural arts treasure.
As with all buildings of that age, the maintenance, structural and financial issues took their toll and by the time that great destroyer, the pandemic of 2019, had passed, The Liberty Theater was finished, officially closing in 2020.
Enter Pete
Pete Vallimarescu has been coming to Sun Valley most of his life. Growing up in New York City, the arts were abundant. Vallimarescu’s sister was a figure skater with a coach who trained summers in Sun Valley. The family came out for a summer, discovered Sun Valley Resort, and have been wintering here ever since. The year before Vallimarescu was to ship off to grad school, “I decided to spend my year in Sun Valley, skiing and teaching skiing, and working at The Pio (Pioneer Saloon) and met a lot of my close friends that are still living there today.”
Vallimarescu set up shop in California and has spent the last seven years putting on events and live shows in the Bay Area. When his friend Logan Frederickson, one of the new owners of The Liberty, tapped him to be the promoter and venue manager, Vallimarescu jumped at the chance. ”I had always wanted to run my own venue. I’d always wanted to have my own space. And so it was just one of those things where it was a little bit too good to be true, and I couldn’t say no.”
Much thought was put into the life of the space, and with younger blood in charge, how to honor the history of the building and perpetuate its place as a community space by and for the community. But most definitely The Liberty Theater is about music. “We all kind of had the idea of this place becoming a music venue. You know, obviously, many things, in addition to being a music venue, but definitely the music was one factor that, really, everyone felt strongly about making that space a cool place for bands to come and play. It’s amazing, you know, that everybody in town loves music, but that there’s not necessarily a music venue in town. I mean, there are places where music is played, but, you know, I wouldn’t say there’s anywhere that exclusively considers themselves a music venue. And so, the hope was to at least kind of fill a little bit of that, that hole or that void. And then, in addition, doing a lot of other things to help bring the community together in a space where people can come and congregate and use the space for their own needs.”
Vallimarescu and friends agreed 100% on the idea of creating a destination for artists of every tier to perform in, be it theater, magic, circus, films, entertaining speakers and whatever else the community wants. So far they’ve had a comedian/magician, live music, a repertory cinema and, just a week ago, a ‘Wild West Burlesque,’ and for the next few weeks a stage production of Little Shop of Horrors will be put on by The Liberty Theatre Company, who are a separate entity, not to be confused with The Liberty Theater itself.
The venue seats 220 people, with standing room, in the front, for around 120. Plans are for any and everything Vallimarescu takes a shine to. As the sole managing promoter, and sometimes performer, Vallimarescu has one of the best jobs in the world—bringing intrigue to a community.
The lineup for the past few months alone is a testament to his indelible commitment to diverse arts and entertainment. The Liberty Theater is currently being rented by a completely separate entity, called The Liberty Theatre Company, for a stage production of Little Shop of Horrors. Just after this, “For the whole week of Halloween, we’re going to be doing a different movie every night, which I’m very excited about. And maybe, you know, fingers crossed, we might try and squeeze a concert in there to go with the Halloween theme.” Spooky cinema looms!
“The Wolf Project is going to be doing a small performance, which I’m excited for, so that’ll be fascinating. And then, obviously, you know, we’re trying to bring some more concerts in and, specifically, we are going to be doing—shhh, it hasn’t been announced officially yet—but we will be doing a New Year’s Eve event with the band Boot Juice.” Vallimarescu’s voice is pure excitement as the man who can.
While many have decried the lack of a music scene or even proper nightlife in the Valley, The Liberty Theater is poised to change all of that. And how!
The theater is available to rent and everything is negotiable. As a community space, the eye is on the community. Are you ready to take your act public? Vallimarescu encourages any act to reach out. “I’m an open book, open phone. When people want to reach out, I’m more than happy to talk about anything and everything, even if it’s just bouncing ideas around. We just look forward to doing more and having everybody kind of rally around the theater down there.”
If you’d like to put on an event or have any booking questions for Vallimarescu, you can email him at booking@libertytheaterhailey.com or on their website at https://www.libertytheaterhailey.com.