Plans for upgrades at the historic Mauch Chunk Opera House are getting closer to becoming a reality.

On Thursday, the Carbon County Commissioners voted to extend the $169,069 Local Share Account grant deadline that they received in 2019 on behalf of the opera house to June 30, 2023.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner said that due to unforeseen circumstances, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the project at the opera house couldn’t be completed within the grant timeline, so they asked for the extension.

Under the grant, the opera house plans to upgrade its air-conditioning system.

“The biggest issue we have is climate control in the opera house,” Vincent DeGiosio, a representative for the opera house said in 2019.

Upgrades that the money was expected to be used for included a complete overhaul of the house’s sound system, renovations to its bathrooms, new stage curtains and more.

“We’ve been planning for this for years, and when I heard about the opportunity - that we might have a shot at this I thought, ‘you know, this could be it,’” DeGiosio said previously.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich added that the opera house is very close to being able to put this project out for bid through the county.

In September 2018, the county agreed and applied for the money on the opera house’s behalf.

The Mauch Chunk Opera House is a nonprofit organization and music venue that seats approximately 380 people and brings approximately 25,000 people per year to downtown Jim Thorpe and Carbon County.