State Theatre

The State Theatre is located on on East Front Street in downtown Traverse City and was originally built in 1918 and rebuilt in 1923 after a fire. It showed the first talking movie seen in Northern Michigan in 1929 when it was known as the Lyric Theatre. It closed down in 1991, before being revitalized by being used during the Traverse City Film Festival beginning in 2005. On November 17, 2007, the community celebrated the grand opening of the theater as a year round art house. The building was restored through hundreds of volunteer hours and financial support of director Michael Moore. In addition to Michael Moore, many other contributors provided financial support that helped in the long process of opening the Traverse City State Theatre.