King Street Cove is located at 200 South King Street in Centralia.
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After nearly a year-long closure, performance center King Street Cove in Centralia was alive with the music of local musicians last Thursday as the Cove begins to operate at 25% capacity, in line with state restrictions on entertainment venues.
King Street Cove owner Jamie Kaiser purchased the former synagogue, which was built in the 1930s, with the goal of restoring the old building and creating a place for local musicians to showcase their talents.
The entertainment venue offers musicians a place to perform with quality sound and lighting equipment.
“My real passion is to support musicians, so I do sound and lighting. They spend their whole life sitting on the edge of their bed practicing, and I feel like my goal is to honor them for the practice and the dedication that they put in,” Kaiser said.
The music venue renovations were completed in late 2019 into early 2020, but the Cove had to shut down shortly after due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Last week we had about 22 people here and it was awesome … It’s kind of an open mic thing until we get some steam up,” Kaiser said.
There are many professional musicians who chose to perform at the King Street Cove because it is a place that is much more conducive to live performances than a bar environment, Kaiser said.
“When you’re trying to sing a song you wrote and there are darts going on and pool tables, people yelling and football games — we’re trying to make a nice music environment where people can sit back and enjoy and have a glass of wine,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser is easing into the shows as the COVID-19 restrictions allow and hopes to eventually have live entertainment on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and show movies on Sundays.
There is no fee for the Thursday night shows, but there is a donation box to help support the musicians.
There will be tickets for sale when the Cove is able to host full-scale concerts.
“I love to have people demonstrate their talents whatever they are — whether it’s poetry, reading or singing. We’ve had people come in and paint pictures while people are singing just to show their art,” Kaiser said.
The King Street Cove can seat about 150 people upstairs at full capacity. There is also a downstairs cafe that serves beverages during the shows. The cafe will eventually serve food as COVID-19 restrictions loosen and the proper health department permits are acquired.
Kaiser said the Cove is always open to partnering with the Fox Theatre to provide entertainment. The two venues partnered late last year looking to host live-streamed concerts to support local entertainment professionals but had to postpone the event due to more rigid COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place in December.
Fox Theatre Executive Director Scott Stolarz said that the live-streamed concerts are being rescheduled for sometime in March.
“The aim of these live-streamed concerts is to have something to help support the creative economy and give musicians an outlet to perform and to supplement some of the lost income from the shows that haven’t happened for the last year,” Stolarz said.
More information about the upcoming live-streamed concerts will be announced early next week, Stolarz said. The King Street Cove will continue to host open mic-style events on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. and will make announcements about added events on their Facebook page @kingstreetcoveWA.
The King Street Cove is located at 200 S. King St. in Centralia.
