"I know it doesn't sound great when I say I'm excited for air conditioning, but I know how much functionality it adds," Lincoln Theatre Director of Operations Jessica Waggoner told the Skagit Valley Herald last spring, before the theatre closed for the summer.
The theatre at First Street in downtown Mount Vernon closed June 1 and reopened Oct. 6 with Jake Shimabukuro on stage. The air conditioning is the change you notice first, and it opens up a new use of the building in the hottest months. One piece of the original plan didn't get done this summer, though. The sprinklers meant for the historic ceiling were moved to a second phase, tentatively scheduled for next summer, the same summer the cooling was supposed to open up.
What a 1920s blower couldn't do
Until this year, the temperature inside the Lincoln was handled by a belt-driven blower in the basement, installed in the 1920s. According to the Herald, it had been modified over the years and still couldn't keep the auditorium cool in warm months.
In its place is a multi-zone heating and cooling system with automatic controls. The theatre's Centennial Campaign page says this is the first time the whole building has had air conditioning. The old natural-gas heater is gone, and the aging electrical work that ran it was fully overhauled.
You can't see most of the work from your seat. A Herald progress report in August listed steel columns going up to hold a roof-mounted HVAC unit, mechanical work in the basement, a new transformer, and new water lines and a water heater. It also covered the Mighty Wurlitzer's room, which was completely reconfigured so air passes through four sets of filters and then moves through the theatre's walls. On its organ page, the Lincoln describes that instrument as one of only two 2-manual, 7-rank D-2 models among the 98 Wurlitzers still in their original U.S. theatres.
The cooling matters most in the summer. The campaign page says the Lincoln can now open as a cooling center on the hottest days, and because the building no longer overheats, it can expand programming into the summer months. For a century, summer was the season the room worked against its audience.
What you'll notice on your next visit
Most of the visible changes improve access. On the campaign page and in the Herald's reporting, they look like this:
- Seating. Expanded ADA seating lets patrons who use wheelchairs or mobility devices sit with friends and family, not off to the side. The Herald reported in spring that this first accessibility phase was already done before the closure.
- Backstage. The green room used to sit at the bottom of a steep staircase. Performers with mobility needs had to go out through the box office and up the ramp to the stage to change costumes. A new lift, level floors and higher ceilings turned that space into a classroom and community event room.
- The signed ducts. In spring, the Herald reported that the new HVAC would replace the large old ceiling ducts people kept hitting their heads on. By August, new backstage ducts had gone in with more headroom. The old ducts were covered in performers' signatures and drawings. The Herald reported that some of the duct tiles would become a mosaic wall in that room, and donors could take a panel home.
- Donor walls. The concessions lobby has a Marquee Wall mural with the names of donors who gave $100 or more. A separate tile mural backstage holds custom designs from gifts of $250 or $500.
Cascadia Daily News described the reopening as big. Shimabukuro opened the week, followed by the Burnin' in Mount Vernon blues and rock fest with The Heatherleys and the Chris Eger Band, a solo electric set from Lloyd Cole, and Black Belt Eagle Scout on Oct. 9 with local violinist Swil Kanim.
The ceiling that is still waiting
When the Herald covered the plans in spring, the sprinklers were part of the summer project. They were to be built into the main auditorium ceiling and kept covered, so the historic ceiling looks unchanged, dropping down only in a fire.
By August, the plan had changed. Waggoner told the Herald that sprinkler and further roof work would happen in phase 2, "tentatively scheduled for next summer." The theatre hasn't announced a date for that work or said whether the building would close for it.
The theatre hasn't said why the sprinklers were moved. In spring, the Herald reported that if the money wasn't raised, the renovations would have to be done in phases, which would push the project back. The two published snapshots of the campaign were taken at different times, so read each one by its date:
| Snapshot | Project total | Still to raise |
|---|---|---|
| Skagit Valley Herald, as of May 20, 2026 | $4 million, including campaign costs and staff retention | $1.3 million |
| Lincoln Centennial Campaign page, current | $4.2 million | $530,000 by year-end 2026 |
The Herald also reported that about $2.4 million came in during the two years before the public campaign began in January. That included $1 million from a state grant, with the rest from private donors, foundations, the city and the county. Since late January, according to Waggoner, donations had averaged about $75,000 a month. The campaign page now credits more than 650 community members, foundations, and city and state grants.
The air conditioning makes a busier summer at the Lincoln possible. The ceiling work is tentatively set for that same summer, and the campaign is still raising money through December.
The months that close out the campaign
The stretch between now and the year-end deadline is also one of the fullest on the theatre's calendar. Highlights from the Lincoln's calendar for the rest of 2026:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Nov. 6 | Soccer Mommy, solo, 7:30 p.m. |
| Nov. 8 | Nathan Stanley's Tribute to Ralph Stanley, 7 p.m. |
| Nov. 13–15 | How to Train Your Dragon: The Musical Jr. |
| Nov. 18 | International Fly Fishing Film Festival, 7 p.m. |
| Nov. 20 | Monty Python and the Holy Grail Clop-Along, 7 p.m. |
| Nov. 28 | Georgefest, celebrating the music of George Harrison, 7:30 p.m. |
| Dec. 11–19 | A Christmas Carol, live theatre |
| Dec. 20 | Magical Strings' Celtic Yuletide, 3 p.m. |
| Dec. 23 | Amahl and the Night Visitors, live opera, 7 p.m. |
The Dragon musical is a homecoming of sorts. Skagit Theatre Camp performed it inside the theatre in August while construction was still underway. The Lincoln's Georgefest page lists advance reserved seats at $30 plus fees and $35 on the day of the show.
The campaign page lists several ways to give before the deadline. A $1,000 gift puts a named plaque on a seat in the auditorium. Gifts of $250 or $500 add a custom tile to the backstage mural, and $100 adds a name to the Marquee Wall in the concessions lobby. The theatre is also offering to name rooms in the building. The membership page lists memberships starting at $45 for an individual, with presales and $3 off Lincoln-presented films and live events.
The campaign page says more than 50,000 people come to downtown Mount Vernon each year for the Lincoln, and they eat, shop and stay nearby. The campaign's deadline for the remaining $530,000 is the end of 2026.
Fitting modern systems into a hundred-year-old building without changing its original ceiling takes planning, and older homes on Fidalgo Island and across Skagit County raise many of the same questions. If you own an older property and want to talk through which upgrades buyers will ask about first, Rob Skelton offers a free home valuation or consultation backed by years of hands-on construction experience.
