Originally a hardware store in the first brick building in Southern Pines, the Sunrise Theater has been serving the Moore County community since 1898. Twice in its history, the theater’s existence has been threatened. Both times, the community came together, gave time, money and shouted to the world, “the Sunrise is an important piece of Moore County.”

The theater’s role as a community gathering place echoes the efforts in 1981 and 1997. The Sunrise Preservation Group, the nonprofit organization that owns and runs the Sunrise Theater, presents a broad range of programming. You can go to see live theater and live music, HD presentations like the Metropolitan Opera, rent the loft space for parties and, yes, see movies.

Herb Cameron, longtime board member, said in a 2018 interview, “What distinguishes the Sunrise is the diversity of our programming. Ever since I’ve been on the board, it has always been about much more than movies even though that is a main part of what we do.”

Over the years the Sunrise has brought some of the most recognizable names in music to stages in Moore County. Doc Watson, The English Beat, Ritchie Havens, Marcus King and so many others have either been a part of the popular First Friday series or headlined their own shows. For nearly 20 years, the Sunrise hosted the Blues Crawl, which spread throughout downtown. That brought blues greats, like Pat “Mother Blues” Cohan, and blues fans from all over the southeast.

That belies the theater’s role in supporting local music. Our very own Zach Person got one of his first gigs at the Sunrise, opening a First Friday for Anders Osborne. He’s since played all over the world. Opening for a First Friday or playing the “Raise the Roof” fundraiser, SoPines Scene Radio Sessions or a solo show, the Sunrise is a space for musicians to get some experience and recognition.

It’s also a place to see music that you might not find anywhere else.