The Cary Arts Center, at 101 Dry Ave., has been the home of three school buildings, dating to the original Cary Academy 143 years ago.

Now it will serve as the home of the arts in Cary, as well as a regional destination. The new center boasts a 400-seat auditorium, five classrooms, a ceramics workshop and a textiles workshop, as well as a small gallery.

Classes started at the center in July, but the official dedication was Saturday when organizers estimated, 4,000 to 5,000 people showed up to tour the facility before performances scheduled in the evening.

"I think it reflects the pent-up demand to celebrate the arts in Cary and this iconic building," Lyman Collins, Cary's cultural arts director, said of the turnout.

Collins said the center is unusual because of its melding of the visual and performing arts.

The center's auditorium will host performances by local groups such as the Cary Players, Concert Singers of Cary, Cary Town Band and Cary Ballet, as well as the Marvelous Music Series that will bring in national and international acts such as the Vienna Boys Choir in the spring.

The center is envisioned primarily as a resource for Cary, Collins said, with residents getting a break on the price of events and activities. But he thinks some performances are likely to draw people from outside the immediate area.

"Four hundred seats means it's somewhat limited," Collins said. "If there's a big fan in Chapel Hill who gets tickets, then that's great, but I think Cary residents will know about it first."

The center is also working on a plan to have an artist in residence from outside the Cary area.

Town officials see the center as part of a larger plan to draw people downtown.

"This is the first step in our downtown revitalization," Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said. "I predict we will see a significant change in downtown."

Part of the unique nature of the center, said Pat Hudson, chairwoman of Cary's Public Art Committee, is the way art was incorporated into the renovation. From the glass enclosures of the center stairwell and concession stand to the brick plaza out front, it is a blend of art, technology and architecture, Hudson said.

"Integrating 'pretty' into the design was envisioned from the very beginning," Hudson said.

Another source of pride for those involved in the project was the integration of the old school building into the new design. Lockers were left in place around the building, for instance, and some of the original molding was used.

Indeed, a draw for many visitors Saturday was not just art, but to see how the highly visible building at the top of Academy Street has been revamped.

Darlene and Michael Wiltzius and Lynne Scullen, Cary Elementary students in the '60s, reminisced about how they met at the school.

"The view out the window when you're daydreaming is much better than when you were in school," Scullen said. "There's art now."

She talked about how she and her friends used to go get cherry Cokes at Ashworth Drugs after school.

"It was the time of big hair and white go-go boots," Darlene Wiltzius said of her school years. "It was like 'That '70s Show.' "

Town founder Frank Page placed the school at the highest point in the original town, Collins said, because he placed such importance on education, and now that emphasis will continue with arts education.