The Bangor Auditorium, which opened on Oct. 1, 1955, and has been home to Maine schoolboy and schoolgirl basketball tournaments ever since, will hold its final tournaments next season as it will be replaced by a new auditorium in the fall of 2013.
The current state championship basketball games are held at three sites: the Bangor Auditorium, the Augusta Civic Center and the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. Should the Maine Principals’ Association hold all the state games at the Bangor Auditorium next March to celebrate its legacy and bid farewell to the facility?
I don’t know about requiring ALL finals to be at BGR auditorium … I think we have to start being practical in selecting the most central location for all the games so that no one has to drive to the other end of the State when their team is playing in the finals. Select the most central location for the 2 teams involved. Common sense in these $4.00+/gal days!
As for the BGR Auditorium … I really hate to see this building go. I believe the City and it’s architects will be more than challenged to come up with a design that compares with the atmosphere that gets generated in the old auditorium. In my opinion, neither the Cumberland or Augusta Civic Centers come close to generating the fervor that gets cranked up in Bangor. Yeah, the wooden bench seats get harder every year … but the design and layout of seating creates a “snake-pit” effect which I’ve seen in a few other venues. The building literally vibrates when the fans get into it. On the other hand, I’ve attended games in the southern half of the state and while fans were supportive, the atmosphere seemed almost sterile.
The greatest challenge for a replacement structure will be to capture those many years of history and passion played out on the floors of the BGR auditorium, and to seamlessly transition to the decades to come.