 Well, former downtown Bemidji Bookstore now has a new tenant and creating more opportunities for the performing arts. Josh Peterson shows us how the Bemidji Community Theater plans to fit into the new neighborhood. Nestled in the heart of downtown, the Bemidji Community Theater plans to transform an abandoned retail space and make it their very own, something the theater board has been working on for years. We actually had a completely different site in mind and we were looking at that and this building became available and all of a sudden it was as if a present were laid in our laps. The timing was perfect for the community theater, but it took a leap of faith to officially invest into the future. It's exciting and a little scary seeing the big leap that we've taken. We are pretty confident that we can do it and we can come out well. With performances held on the Paul Bunyan Playhouse stage next door at the Chief Theater, the space is ideal but offers so much more. Members of the Bemidji Community Theater feel that their new storefront location in the heart of downtown Bemidji will help them further engage in the community. I think that we're going to definitely look at increased offerings and I don't know that they'll all be performance, but now having a space we can contain our own calendar and run our own calendar. The hope is to restore the space back to its original department store state with a theatrical twist and provide more offerings to the community. It had two mezzanines upstairs and an entire basement downstairs and we need every single inch of this space for our BCT Junior program, for example, and so that we have multiple places for people to rehearse at the same time. In Bemidji, Josh Peterson, Lakeland News. And the Bemidji Community Theater hopes to begin using their new space for rehearsals next month. The facility is expected to open to the public in time for the holidays. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.