While I can appreciate the climbing wall needing a new location, the loss of our great art-deco movie theatre is a huge loss for Nelson. The idea that it shouldn’t exist just because the attendance was low should be reviewed, in my mind. When they had decent movies, the attendance was good. I remember being in a packed theatre for movies such as The English Patient, Titanic, and even, more recently, for the Abba musical, Mama Mia! Also, when there were special, alternative-run movies on Thursday nights, there was always a solid-sized crowd. However, during its last days, most of the movies were formulaic fluff, and I would’ve paid not to watch them (and, obviously, others felt the same). The sound system always needed an upgrade as well.
If there were folks willing to do the work to reopen the Civic Theatre just last year, and Castlegar’s multiplex exists, I don’t understand the idea that because more Canadians are using Netflix (as our mayor points out in the March 21 edition of the Star), the theatre should be closed. Is this really valid?
Also, if the skate park just got a $400,000 grant, I wonder if more can’t be done to restore our theatre. After all, we are a heritage town and our old theatre is a gem.
Josh Wapp
Nelson