Some buildings have a soul. You get that feeling when walking up the squeaky wooden stairs, through a beaten metal door, and into the projector booth of Roxy Theatre in Revelstoke.
In a corner stands an old roll of the movie ‘Hurricane’ from 1999. Looking out on the empty auditorium you can feel the generations of laughter and cries lingering in the walls.
The building is over a hundred years old. It was originally built as a hardware store in 1905, but in 1937 it had an Art Deco makeover and became Avolie Theatre, named after the owner’s wife.
Since 1952 the movie theatre has been known as the Roxy Theatre, and the new owner Greg Rose intends on keeping it that way.
“It’s an emotional experience running this place, I already feel that the first few days. You quickly get an idea of how much this building means to the city and the people. That’s something that rests on my shoulders for sure,” Rose said.
Rose used to manage the local pub The Last Drop, but when the business temporarily shut down this spring due to COVID-19, he threw in the towel and started looking for a new challenge.
When Rose’s friend, Dan Gnenz, suddenly bought Roxy mid-pandemic and asked Greg to steer the ship, his immediate thought was no way. But as he sat with the idea for a while, he realized that this was exactly what he wanted to do.
Motivated, Rose started pouring his heart and soul into his new project. Nobody said it would be easy, but after only a week Dr. Bonnie put a halt to the fun until January.
However, this doesn’t mean Roxy has turned into a haunted house behind the closed doors and sparkling lights.
Despite the loss of business, Rose is appreciating the extra time to tidy up the place and make exciting plans for the future.
Turns out running an ancient theatre is more than just figuring out the perfect popcorn to butter ratio. It can also include weeks of looking for that exact light bulb, or figuring out how to make it possible to stream live hockey matches, host bands, or what about a liquor license? All these ideas are racing through Greg’s head, his hands itching to get to work.
To keeps the wheels spinning while locked down, the theatre has still been open every Thursday and Sunday night selling popcorn, candy, and punch passes.
Some nights have seen “surprisingly high sales,” showing Rose that the local community really don’t want to see this place go.
A thoughtful and cute campaign that also has been running is Candy for a Can. Rose didn’t want to see all the candy that was about to expire go to waste. Why not exchange food donations for candy? Countless sugar rushes later Roxy has donated 300 pounds of food and $260 in cash to the Community Connections Food Bank.
Rose tells the Revelstoke Mountaineer that the devil is in the details and that he really wants to put on more events. “I want to make a more viable Roxy,” he said.
Remember the words of previous owner Tammy Van Sickle: “Don’t forget Revy, if you truly want to keep a theatre in town you have to go see the movies. It isn’t enough to like our posts. You have to go to the movies!”
What did you think of this story?
Your feedback after we publish a story helps ensure we're always improving our reporting to better serve you
