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Day Of Service Offers Project Of Historic Importance

CENTRAL CITY, Colo (CBS4) - The Central City Opera House was built in 1878. It's home to the nation's fifth oldest opera company, founded in 1932. Every summer, the Opera opens it's doors for several months of performances. Young singers come from all over the world to learn and perform. The Opera houses many of them in the 30 houses it owns in Central City.

Central City
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"Central City Opera is more than just putting great opera on the stage, it's also about historic preservation," said Scott Finlay, Director of Development for Central City Opera.

LINK: Register for Central City Opera's Day of Service Project

Most of the houses and buildings owned by the Opera were built as summer homes for wealthy Denverites. When air conditioning became common in homes, many of those houses were donated or sold to the Opera. Most of the properties don't have heating systems.

Central City 3
(credit CBS)

"These houses were all constructed back in the 1870's, and so it takes a lot of work to keep them up and running. And the help that [Xcel Energy volunteers] give us not onlygives them a look at us, but it helps us to get to know them as well," Finlay told CBS4.

Day of Service volunteers will be cleaning the houses, doing inventory, a bit of light maintenance, and shutting them up for the winter.

"We really do appreciate everything they've done for us. The 25 volunteers that came last year had a great time and we really loved having them up here," Finlay added.

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