For several years, the historic City Auditorium has housed the City’s Community Development and Engineering Departments, Keep Beatrice Beautiful, Main Street Beatrice, and the Beatrice Housing Authority. All remain in their current locations. This last fall, the Fire Department relocated from the basement of the City Auditorium to their new facility.
Several new entities have since moved into the Beatrice City Auditorium. This has brought the building to full capacity. In the past several months, a number of new entities have located or relocated to this venue.
In February of 2023, CASA of Gage County moved into three offices on the lower level of the building. CASA stands for Court Approved Special Advocates. CASA offers diverse volunteers, service and programs to children identified as abused and neglected, and provides education to the public.
Then in August of 2023, the Beatrice Community Food Pantry also relocated to the lower level of the building. This gave the food pantry approximately 4,000 square feet to serve those in need. The Food Pantry is accessible to the public on the west side of the building.
The Youth to Youth Center, run by Mother to Mother Ministry, has transformed approximately 3,500 square feet of space also in the lower level of the building. Their focus is for school-aged children to play tabletop games (pool, ping-pong, air hockey), board games, video games, and enjoy concessions. The center will have adult supervision at all times. The hours will be Wednesdays 2:00 - 5:00 pm and Sundays 4:00 - 7:00 pm. An Open House is set for Sunday, March 10th, from 2:00 - 4:00 pm. The Grand Opening will be Wednesday, March 20th, from 2:00 - 5:00 pm.
Office space on the second floor was recently remodeled and will now be the location for the City of Beatrice Information Technology Department.
Usage of the main floor gym has also grown. The space hosts pickleball, corn hole, youth basketball, and youth soccer throughout the week. Early in the month of April, the gym floor will be painted to include the lines for 3 pickleball courts, along with the basketball and volleyball lines. Pickleball is played mornings and afternoons, seven days a week from November 1st through March 31st. Contact the Beatrice Pickleball association at beatricepickleball [at] gmail.com () or search for them on Facebook and they will get you started playing with the group.
Mark Pethoud
Public Properties Director