Wallingford’s Oakdale Theater Changes Names…Again

Oakdale Theater Has a New Ride

In a press release yesterday, Live Nation announced that it has entered into an agreement with Toyota that will give the car company sponsorship rights to Wallingford’s Oakdale Theater, as well as Comcast Theater (formerly The Meadows) in Hartford. The new name of the Oakdale Theater is now “Toyota Presents Oakdale Theater”.

“The Connecticut Toyota Dealers Association is thrilled to support these two hugely popular regional theaters,” said Stephen Zion, president of the Connecticut Toyota Dealers and Toyota of Wallingford. Jim Koplik, chairman of Live Nation’s Northeast region, agreed: “I am particularly pleased to have Toyota as key partners in our continued efforts to bring the top entertainment to Connecticut,” he said.

The sponsorship agreement includes the right to have Toyota vehicles on display at both Toyota Presents Oakdale and also at Comcast Theater, as well as Jumbotron and theater signage, displays, logos on tickets and theater collateral.

What’s In a Name?

Well, in this case it just means that everyone will continue to call it “The Oakdale”, just like they always have. When they changed the name to the Chevrolet Theater, there were a few who honored the new moniker, but most did not. Now it will be easy for everyone to just drop the “Toyota Presents” part and say “Let’s go to The Oakdale tonight!” Hopefully, no one gets the bright idea to shorten the name to an acronym, like “TPOT“. Can you hear it now? “Let’s go to the TeaPot tonight!”.

Um…no.

It really doesn’t matter whose name is over the door, whether it’s Chevrolet or Toyota or Rolls Royce, for that matter. For us locals one thing is certain: Oakdale it was, Oakdale it always will be.

Carry on.