Rick Steves Purchases Historic Edmonds Theater

The Edmonds-based travel guide, writer, and philanthropist Rick Steves announced earlier this week that he had purchased the Edmonds Theater.

The single-screen venue is more than a century old and shows new releases, hosts repertory screenings, and puts on events. Currently, the theater’s main attraction is “The Odyssey,” and, from Aug. 28 through Sept. 3, it will have “The Last Picture Shows,” a buzzy new documentary about the struggles and financial issues independent rural movie theaters face.

“As a neighbor, I think I can speak for all of us when I say, ‘We love our Edmonds theater,’ and we’d be sad to see it close,” Steves said in a video announcement posted on his Facebook. “Notice I said, ‘Our theater.’ That’s because I’ve purchased this 100-year-old theater to ensure that it will continue to grace Main Street here in our town well into the future.”

Steves will host special screenings of “The Last Picture Shows” on Aug. 31. While those showings are currently sold out, the European travel guide plans to host a larger celebration for the community to celebrate the purchase that will be announced at a later date, My Edmonds News reported.

Read our interview with Steves, which originally appeared in the March 2021 issue, here.