DARLINGTON — Once a place where people would come for entertainment decades ago, the Driver Opera House is once again catching the eye of people in town. Dedication from a board as well as other citizens to renew the more than century old institution has produced new vibrancy in the form of a few small businesses in Darlington’s downtown. 

Three shop owners, two in the ground floor of the Driver Hotel and one recent addition below the Driver Opera House, are optimistic about an upcoming grand opening. Even if it meant waiting a while for Heidi Brenum of Pins & Pieces Quilt Shop.

“They’ve been patiently waiting for me,” Brenum said. 

But Nikki Larson and Kate Bausch, owner of Be Still & Know and The Happy Palette respectively, were in no rush and wanted to accommodate the shop just around the corner. Still, Brenum decided roughly a month after she moved in would be best. 

And she has no plans to move out of the space that is nearly double of the one she inhabited a block away nearly 10 years ago, happy to host classes to more than one or two people.

“This is my forever home now,” Brenum said. 

While Brenum just moved in three weeks ago, the two shops under the Driver Hotel have been there since June.

Bausch said she moved in to the lower level of the historic hotel after she and Larson, a close friend, saw the front windows. While daydreaming about what her store would look like for years, Bausch said it was the windows that fit her vision perfectly. They called and moved in quickly. 

The Happy Palette, an art gallery which doubles as a space for interested crafters to take workshops, was a way to hone her knowledge and bring vibrancy to the town. She had been managing a gallery in Mineral Point and painted frequently at her home in Darlington.

“I knew I wanted to have my own gallery, bring my art more out in the open,” Bausch said. “I was pretty sure I wanted to do it right away, as soon as I saw the space, because I could picture it.”

But she also wanted to teach, and was glad when people started attending paint and sip events. Despite some people being reluctant because they were sure they are not artistic, Bausch has faith in everyone’s ability to create.

“If you can drive, you can draw; that’s what I always say,” Bausch said. 

The colorful, bright space is housed right next door to Be Still & Know. Larson began the business in the space over the summer as a way to switch gears after retiring from the Lafayette County land and conservation department after 22 years.

With a focus on calming people, Larson, who is a certified ministry member, is also a master of reiki. The alternative medicine commonly referred to as energy healing uses universal energy transfer to encourage emotional or physical healing. Larson said the experience has been so calming that some people fall asleep on the table. But she does not mind, since she knows the experience is beneficial regardless.

Larson said she looks forward to the open house on Feb. 1 and 2. 

“I’m so glad they’re doing it,” she said, noting that she will be glad to see new and familiar faces in her shop over the weekend.

Both Bausch and Larson help operate the Drive Hotel above them, with Bausch greeting guests and Larson maintaining the lobby. 

All of the business owners agree that the location has been agreeable.

“I notice the difference from being tucked in a corner and on the main drag,” Brenum said, noting that during the three months she was “behind the laundromat” was a bit lonely. “It’s been nice, it’s been busy; well, for January, it’s been busy.”

Bausch said she was glad to hear comments from residents who have noted the lights and the people through the windows taking classes, “bring life” to West Ann Street again.

Brenum also noted how the restoration of the building has been beneficial and said she noticed “everything is the latest and greatest.”

Members of the Driver Opera House Board of Directors have completed phase one. The nonprofit looks forward to hosting a show within the currently in progress theater space upstairs. There are also plans to put in new bathrooms where an old coat room had been kept and install a service elevator.

The organization raised $1.4 million, with a third of the funding coming from a grant through the Department of Natural Resources, and the help of 800 donors.

Board President Stan Krahenbuhl said the group has been enthused to see even small changes, and to ensure the ground floor flood mitigation was recently finished in order to move on to the next phase of restoration. Metal doors that clamp onto the front of the building will resist flooding up to four feet and drains in each room lead to a large sub-pump tucked away in the back of the building. With those steps taken, it is officially eligible for historic preservation.

The 136-year-old building at one time was in near collapse, he said, noting that “all the muck” in the lowest level “kept her in place.” Without it, the building likely would have toppled, spilling out into two different streets. But now they have the chance to use it for shows and other events, as it once was.