QUINTER – A costume shop that maintains hard-to-find costumes and props for use in Northwest Kansas productions is open in Quinter.

Costumes are available for the price of cleaning. The more than 2,000-piece collection, which includes many vintage and valuable costumes from the early 1900s to today, stems mostly from the “Golden (as in Alma Golden) Era” of Quinter Community Theatre.

About two decades ago, community theater productions involved casts and crews of more than 100 community members, and community volunteers collected and made more than 1,000 costumes, props and structural theater elements. Golden, a former theater director now in her mid-90s, remains a patron of the arts in western Kansas.

The collection had fallen into disarray, and for many years the costumes have been inaccessible.  The extensive collection was stored on the second floor of the building housing Clothes Like New, a thrift store now managed by Friends of the Jay Johnson Public Library.

For the past two summers, volunteers have spent more than 150 hours organizing and cleaning the collection. A grant funded installation of a washer and dryer, as well as purchase of clothing and shoe racks and other supplies to make the area functional.

The costume shop is now open, and a check-out system has been developed. The shop contains a large and small prop room, a gown room, a hat/checkout room, a clothing/shoe room and a fitting room. Costumes have begun to be loaned out and are available for community theatre productions, school plays, arts camps, or other drama activities in the Northwest Kansas area.