CALUMET — The ornate chandelier that hung from the auditorium ceiling until it was destroyed in a fire in 1912 will be replaced this spring.

Jim Enrietti, who has spearheaded the campaign to replace the chandelier, said the new one, which has been ordered from a company in Minnesota, could be delivered to the theater by March 3.

Enrietti said the frame of the light is finished in a gold luster metal, is just over seven feet wide, and eight and half feet tall, with a weight of 450 pounds. It has 128 arms with 128 LED replaceable bulbs, and can be dimmed.

“It’s a big piece of machinery here,” he said. However, it does not resemble the original.

Calumet Theatre Co. Board President Dan Jamison said last fall that he read a quote that described the chandelier as looking like a dandelion that was just about ready to go to seed.

“Big, round, airy, light,” said Jamison, “there was something like 150 light bulbs in it.”

The chandelier’s frame was made of copper, which was soldered together.

The new chandelier is not copper. Jamison said that the gold will match the gold painted trim of the auditorium. While the search for an appropriate chandelier was underway, studies were conducted on the trusses above the auditorium ceiling that supported the original light.

In Nov. 2024, Fire Tower Engineered Timber, in Calumet, was engaged to provide both a design for the new chandelier and a study to determine structural integrity, in addition to a report on what mechanical systems will be necessary to raise and lower the chandelier for maintenance and cleaning.

Jamison said that last week he and a representative from REJ Contracting, in Lake Linden, had inspected the beam above the truss.

“They climbed up into the attic with me,” he said, “they looked at the plans that Fire Tower had put together,

“They’re working with Fire Tower to firm up the specifics of the mechanics and they seem to think it might be significantly easier than it would have been otherwise, what they propose is a metal saddle that will fit over the wooden truss, as opposed to hanging the chandelier. The saddle will support the chandelier. That way, we (will) have a winch on either side of it and two people can raise and lower it.”

Enrietti said that there is money to cover the cost of the chandelier and its instillation.

Since 2023, Enrietti has been the driving force behind a project to raise the funding to replace the chandelier that has been gone for 106 years. He organized and hosted the first Calumet Theatre fundraising event in July, 2023. In July, 2024, the Second Annual Fundraiser Dinner and Ball was conducted in the Calumet Theatre Ball Room.

In Sept. 2024, the Keweenaw Health Foundation donated $15,000 to the project. Enrietti said the donation puts the Chandelier Society in the financial position to then move forward with the first phase of the project. Enrietti said in September that the KHF donation funded the study the beams and supports above the ceiling.