A dreamy beach town and a world-class arts
scene unite in Pensacola
Come for the Coast,
Stay for a Show
When people think of Pensacola, they might picture sugar-white beaches and soaring Blue Angels, but the historic Florida Panhandle city is also home to a thriving art scene. Its forty-two square miles are packed with theater outfits, dance companies, and other arts establishments, presenting a difficult choice for visitors: Will it be the opera? The ballet? Dinner and a gallery show?
That’s not a bad problem to have, and it’s the reason Corey McKern, an award-winning baritone and the Pensacola Opera’s artistic director, left New York City for the relaxed beach town. “The first time I came here in 2007, I was driving my rental car by the bay, and it was a sunny day and I was rolling past these old charming houses, and I was like, ‘I could live in this place,’” he says. When McKern and his wife, Chandra, Pensacola Opera’s general director, were offered jobs with the company, it was a done deal. The chance to live in such a scenic location among other close-knit, full-time arts organizations was too good to pass up.
Pensacola Opera operates at the same level of excellence as many of the opera companies McKern worked with in New York. “We bring in really high-level artists from all over the world, singers that sing at the Metropolitan Opera, singers who perform in Europe,” McKern says. And they host the performers in a theater equal to their talents. Pensacola Opera, Ballet Pensacola, Pensacola Children’s Chorus, Broadway in Pensacola, and Pensacola Symphony Orchestra all share the stage at the historic Saenger Theatre, a stunning Spanish Baroque building constructed in 1925.
Nicknamed the Grand Dame of Palafox Street, the Saenger is a true marquee venue and a testament to an era when “going to the theater” meant something special.
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“The Saenger Theatre was part of the Saenger Amusement Company, and they had theaters all across the Southeast,” says Kathy Summerlin, the theater’s director of booking and marketing. “All of these stages were virtually the same size so that the vaudevillians could go from one city to the other and easily set up their acts.” But if that sounds like a cookie-cutter design, think again. Nicknamed the Grand Dame of Palafox Street, the Saenger is a true marquee venue and a testament to an era when “going to the theater” meant something special. The opulent space seats 995 on the floor alone (with an additional 695 in the balcony and velvet box seats) in a proscenium adorned with Rococo details and iron railings. And unlike so many modern, large performance venues built near freeways outside of city limits, the Saenger is right in the heart of Pensacola.
“You can walk out of a show and go right to dinner,” McKern says. He tells all visitors, performers and audiences alike, to head to the Old Hickory Whiskey Bar nearby for after-dinner drinks. But the Saenger is not the only show in town.
“We’ve been deemed the festival city of the South because we truly have something going on every weekend, if not every day of the year,” says Nicole Stacey, Vice President, Destination Development at Visit Pensacola. Whether it’s three Mardi Gras parades in February, JazzFest in April, or Foo Foo Fest—twelve remarkable days of arts and culture events—in November, Pensacolians know how to throw a party. Here you get the sun, sand, past, and performance-filled present all in one place.
And when you need a quiet moment to reflect, there’s always the Pensacola Museum of Art. For a decade Maria Goldberg, the director of marketing, public relations, and events for Great Southern Restaurants, ran the museum, and she continues to curate exhibits there; most recently she helped produce Vandals to Vanguards in her role as chairperson for the Foo Foo Fest. The exhibition, a Foo Foo Fest grant-recipient event, featured contemporary masters like Banksy, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Shepard Fairey. “You just won’t see those kind of artists anywhere else nearby,” Goldberg says.
What you will see is a community continually pushing the boundaries of creativity, at its box offices, ballets, bistros,
and beyond.
Explore more of Pensacola’s colorful cultural scene by visiting VacationArtfully.com
Photographer: Michael Duncan
Photographer: Maria Goldberg