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Here are some of the Special Surprises that made our trip so great: 1.
The Prize for
Chromatically
Appropriate Attire
2. The Man Who Saved Pasaquan 3. The Man Who Wrote the Book 4. The Director of Impromptu Entertainment 5. The Architect, Preservationist & Historian 6. The Restored Theatre and the Church 7. The Work of Art Bonus: The Levitation Suit The Sixth Special Surprisem 6. The Rylander Theatre opened the doors for its first live performance, the hit play Lightnin' on January 21, 1921, and was called "The Finest Playhouse South of Atlanta. " Three weeks later, the Rylander presented its first movie double featured  with Mary Pickford's The Love Light and Harold Lloyd's Get Out and Get Under. Through most of the next 30 years, it hosted the best in live vaudeville entertainment, minstrel shows, musical revues, plays, and motion pictures.  Americus
businessman Walter Rylander commissioned New York architect C.K. Howell
to design the building, with interior design by William Saling also of
New York. The Rylander was a visual feast of ornate plaster work,
beautiful stencil patterns, and painted murals. It finally closed in
1951 and remained shuttered for nearly a half century. However, the
theatre still had much of its original grandeur intact, and, as part of
the city of Americus’ downtown renaissance in the 1990s, the Rylander
Theatre underwent extensive restoration (4.8 million dollars). It
reopened in 1999 as a stunning performing arts showplace.  In its
years as a movie house, the Rylander Theater was the place where Jimmy
Carter first dated his sweetheart Rosalynn Smith. Just after the
theatre opened, President Carter celebrated his 75th birthday in this
spectacularly refurbished 600-plus-seat theater which, only three years
earlier, saw as its only patrons the pigeons who flew through the holes
in the roof.As part of our after-dinner walking tour of downtown Americus on Saturday night, our group got a first-hand look at the Rylander's opulent interior. Guided by architect and historian Meda Krenson, our short two block walk from the Windsor Hotel to the Rylander also provided an up-close look at numerous turn-of-the-century landmarks that line Americus' historic West Lamar Street. The 45-minute stroll also took us inside the astonishing1884 First Presbyterian Church, and then back to the Windsor. Our walk through downtown Americus impressed us with this proud Victorian town that pops up in the middle of the cotton and peanut fields of south Georgia. Once among the largest cities in the state, the grandeur of Americus was frozen in time when the railroad suddenly no longer mattered, leaving the urban industrial sprawl to nearby cities like Albany and Macon while this gem of a small town quietly basked in the gentile spirit of days gone by.
 
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Special Thanks to the
Steering Committee
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