February 6, 2025

Paramount Abilene hosted the most touring actings & had the most donors in 2024

Paramount Abilene hosted the most touring actings & had the most donors in 2024
ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Paramount Abilene witnesses one of their best years in 2024.

The theater hosted or rented live events 163 times, and the most touring acting in their history visited their theater.

In 27 shows, 16,588 people attended a show and had the most donors ever during Abilene Gives, including 137 people who donated $56,470 to their non-profit. Executive Director George Levesque told KTAB/KRBC the success can be attributed to the growth of Downtown Abilene.

“Downtown Abilene is doing very well. There’s no doubt we couldn’t have tried this ten years ago, and 15 years ago, it wouldn’t have worked. I mean, we could have tried it. But if you put a concert on stage and nobody comes, you quickly learn a lesson and go, well, we can’t do that, but because downtown Abilene is doing so well right now,” Levesque said.

Despite having Cypress Street construction block their main entrance from the street for half of the year, Levesque told KTAB/KRBC the construction did not affect the numbers.

“It’s very easy to say that 2024 was our single best year economically ever. And that’s shocking because when they tore up our street, and we lost our sidewalk for half a year, we were really worried that that was going to have a very negative effect on the bottom line. Truth be told, people kept coming to events, and that’s really what makes it success,” Levesque said

The theater also had stars such as Kevin Bacon, Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, and stars from Napoleon Dynamite Efren Ramirez and Jon Gries. This year, Levesque said they saw a rise in interest in live music elements, which they will include more in 2025.

“We’re fortunate because we’re diversified in our programming. So, yeah, we’re going to do films. We’re always going to do films, but we’re also going to do concerts and live theater and ballet. The opera association comes. There’s just all kinds of different events that go on,” Levesque explained.

Writers and bands also performed at the theater, with appearances from Rick Steves, Blue October, Jefferson Starship, Aaron Watson, Lorrie Morgan, and the Bellamy Brothers.


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