Pioneer Place, Veranda Lounge Making Adjustments Under New Rules

ST. CLOUD -- The Pioneer Place and the Veranda Lounge on Fifth Avenue in downtown St. Cloud will start offering some musical entertainment again. Starting Wednesday theaters are allowed to have people inside under the Governor's Stay Safe MN, however, capacity is limited to just 25 percent.

Co-owner Ray Herrington says the theater has 212 seats so they can sell up to 53 tickets, which really isn't profitable when you have to pay the band, sound guys, and other support staff.

What we plan on doing is try to hold some pay per view events which will help make some of those costs work a little bit better.

This Saturday the Pioneer Place will be showing a live Chris Hawkey concert on a big screen. Hawkey is performing a live outdoor show in front of 250 people at Le Musique Room in St. Michael.

We can get 50 people inside our theater, so we're going to try to get 50 people in, have a couple of cocktails, it will be about $10 a person, that will help support the concert and the building.

Tickets to watch the concert at the Pioneer Place can be bought at the Veranda Lounge Bar.

Meanwhile, the Veranda Lounge will also be open to both outdoor and indoor seating, with limited capacity. Herrington says they are starting a Friday night concert series on the Veranda Lounge patio with Andy Austin performing this Friday night starting at 7:00 p.m.

The Pioneer Place Theater has been closed for nearly three months due to the executive orders surrounding COVID-19, prior to the shutdown the venue had been open for just about 5 1/2 months following a major remodel. It was closed from June through September last year to complete the work.