[Jason]

It doesn't sound bad to say that a rare piece of art more
than 100 years old needs
about $15,000 worth of restoration.
Heck, it almost sounds reasonable.
Unless, of course, you have about 100 rare, old pieces of art, all in need of restoration.
But that's the case with the Winona's city-owned Masonic Temple backdrops.
The turn-of-the-20th-century backdrops have been a part of the Temple for presumably nearly as long as the building itself. They came with the building when the city bought the property in 1979.
But 100 years of literal wear and tear have taken their toll. And now the full restoration of the backdrops will take almost $1.5 million.
We'd argue this is art worth saving.
There are almost 100 unique backdrops that have been saved through indifference. That's right, because no one needed the space that badly and no one felt a push for modern backdrops, they remained. And they survived.


more Our view: Masonic Temple backdrops worth saving