Garden Theater installs solar panels on roof thanks to support from community

FRANKFORT, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) — The Garden Theater in Frankfort will now be able to produce cleaner and cheaper energy thanks to some help from the community.

The theater recently finished a project with a local company called CBS Solar to put solar panels on its roof.

During the planning process, it was discovered the roof needed repairs.

To pay for the added cost, the theater transitioned from being a for-profit business to a nonprofit to be able to accept donations.

In response, the community helped them raise more than $2 million.

“It became clear early on, when we started to have some individual conversations, about how passionate people are about the garden theater here in Frankfort,” said Rick Schmitt, the president of Friends of the Garden Theater.

“It’s been here for one hundred years; many people had their first dates here; maybe they brought their kids and now they’re bringing their grandkids,” Schmitt said. “And there was a passion out there to save the building again. And that became evident when we were able to raise the money to do so.”

The board expects the solar panels to produce 58,000 kilowatts of energy annually, which will save them money to spend on other resources for the theater.