The premier Arts & Cultural Centre in Southern Georgian Bay.

Beautifully restored and renovated, the Meaford Hall Arts & Cultural Centre doors are open in historic downtown Meaford. Meaford Hall, also known as the Opera House, is a stone’s throw from Georgian Bay and adjacent to all amenities in an area well-known for its year-round attractions. As a four season venue, Meaford Hall plays host to a variety of events including live theatre, music and entertainment, business and corporate events and social gatherings.

LOOKING FOR OUR SHOWS?

What's next On The Screen click here

What's next On the Stage click here

Our History

"A monument to prosperity and progress"

On a cold, early spring day in 1909, a crowd of townspeople gathered at the muddy corner of Nelson and Sykes Streets.  A glint of brass and a valiant fanfare announced the arrival of the Meaford Cornet Band, and the crowd strained to see as the town's officials mounted the steps of Meaford's new Town Hall and Opera House.

For the past year, the town had watched as the Hall rose on the hill above the harbour, her grand Palladian lines and stately Doric columns a stamp of respectability on the booming town.  And today, she was to officially open.

When fire had swept through the old Town Hall in the wee hours of October 5, 1907, no one was unduly upset.  The building, built in 1864, had become dilapidated, and there'd long been talk of something grander.  Now the way was paved.

Ellis and Connery, Toronto architects, earned the commission for the new Town Hall.  Senior Partner James Ellis was a Meaford native who'd gone on make a name for himself in Toronto for his designs of schools, churches and other public buildings – such as the Bank of North America at King and Dufferin Streets.  Now he was home to make his mark on Meaford.

Local contractor James Sparling won the construction bid for $20,240, and thrifty businessman that he was, recycled as much of the original town hall's brick as possible in the construction of the new building.

On the day the cornerstone was laid in August of 1908, Mayor J.W. Horsley bragged that Meaford Hall would be the largest municipal building in the County of Grey.  "Its massive and graceful outlines," he declared, "will stand as a monument to prosperity and progress.. .and doubtless will be for many generations one of its prominent landmarks."

The heart of the community

Like many public buildings across small-town Ontario, Meaford Hall was meant to be more than a Town Hall.  Presiding over Market Square, with its bandstand and athletic field, the building housed the council chambers and town offices.  The chambers also served as a courtroom, and in the basement miscreants apprehended by the local constabulary would find a cold berth in one of two tiny jail cells.  Down at the other end of the building, the Meaford Public Library welcomed generations of schoolchildren and their parents.  Farmers used the basement on market day, and in time this space served as ballroom, meeting area, and Boy Scout hall.  Later divided into smaller rooms, it housed the Women's Institute, the Meaford Quilters, a Senior Citizens club, and the Senior Men's Euchre Club.

But up the high staircases to either side of the Sykes Street entrance – now there's where the magic truly happened.

The second-floor Opera House – with its broad stage beneath a proscenium arch, its rows of wooden seats (each fitted with a wire rack for a gentleman's hat), its balcony embellished with raised plasterwork acanthus leaves, and its high ceiling and tall windows – was the cultural heart of the community.

Local plays, high school graduations, concerts and famous speakers have all filled the theatre’s seats with eager audiences. In the early years of the century, train-traveling musical shows would whistle into town, cast and costumes in tow, mustering amateur performers from the Meaford citizenry. (This ensured that a young hopeful’s friends and family would all buy tickets to see their darling onstage.)   The Meaford Citizens Band took to the stage on Sunday nights for years.  Theatre groups and festivals staged comedy, drama and musical theatre.  And it has never stopped.  For nearly a century, the Opera House has rung with music, drama and debate, and the exceptional acoustics of the room remained famous in theatrical circles.

A new life

In 1967, the library moved to a bigger space in the old Post Office.  The Meaford Police Department left the hall in 1996.  And the town vacated the old offices in 2002.  The council chambers grew quiet, as even the Chamber of Commerce, which had used them for board meetings in recent years, moved into new quarters.

Over the years, the Hall grew a little threadbare, as time, utilitarian alterations, and neglect took their toll.   At times, there were calls for the building to be torn down, and many wondered if simple lack of care would do the trick on its own.  Stoic though throughout, the Hall maintained its stately demeanour, rather like a veteran standing at attention, in worn uniform, at the cenotaph on a bare November day.

Over the decades, various movements attempted to return the building to its former stature.  Finally, success.  In 2003, Meaford secured a Superbuild grant to restore and renovate the building.   Thousands of volunteer hours later, Meaford celebrated the completion of a $6 million project, and the Meaford Hall Arts & Cultural Centre opened for business in the spring of 2006.