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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATuRDAY APRIL 25, 2015 3 G L E N B O R O VISITKILLARNEY ~THERE'SNOBETTERPLACE! 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Beginning at 2 pm Island Park, Portage La Prairie, MB 204.857.6177 or 1.866.714.7058 www.portagegolfclub.ca 2 Golfers and a Cart Rental 2 CAN RIDE FOR $ 82.00 Stuart Briese, MLA Agassiz Constituency CONSTITUENCY OFFICE: Neepawa Phone: 476-3736 Fax: 476-3462 Email:stubriese@mymts.net P.O.Box23 Neepawa,MB R0J1H0 eat fresh! Visit us at these locations! SOURIS SOURIS 5 First Avenue West (204) 483-2953 MELITA MELITA 624 Government Rd. Allowance (204) 522-8166 a star is reborn Show Goes on at Gaiety Theatre By David Square For the Free Press The Gaiety Theatre in Glenboro was almost gone with the wind in 2012. Built in 1939, the movie house was facing extinction when digital technology made its 35mm film projector obsolete. But the Village of Glenboro refused to bring the curtain down on the theatre, which had undergone extensive renovations just five years earlier. T here is so much wonderful history associated with the building that we couldn't bear to abandon it," says Chris Tanasichuk, who is Economic Development Officer and recreation director for Glenboro and area. Tanasichuk was among four die-hard volunteers who became closely involved with the Railway Avenue theatre in 2000, after the long-time projectionist passed away at age 80. She and three other volunteers learned the art of 35mm projection, screening the latest Hollywood blockbusters for a dozen years until it became impossible to access movies shot on celluloid. "2012 was a poignant year," she recalls. "We'd spent a lot of money renovating the theatre and now we had to decide whether the show would go on or to turn out the lights." In the spirit of intrepid, old-time theatre folk, the volunteers chose to go on with the show. A fundraising drive was launched to purchase a digital projector for the community- owned theatre. "One reason so many small-town cinemas have closed throughout North America is they are owned privately and therefore excluded from fundraising in the public domain," Tanasichuk says. A large chunk of the $80,000 needed to buy the digital projector came from a local citizen who bequeathed money from his estate to the town. "He was also a good friend of the projectionist who died in 2000," says Tanasichuk, adding that the local Olafson Brothers Foundation donated funds to acquire a new screen. The impetus to renovate the theatre was provided by Brandon's Home Depot in 2007, when it picked the Gaiety as a community upgrade project. The wife of a long-time Glenboro employee had died of cancer and, in her memory, the store provided free labour and materials to repaint the entire theatre as well as to sand and refinish the original hardwood floor. The renovation also marked the start of a beautiful relationship. Volunteer projectionist Louise Laing — formerly Louise Gregoire — was helping out when she met her future husband, Brian Laing, one of the renovators from Home Depot. Three years later they were married—in the theatre, of course. Larger, more comfortable seats with drink holders were purchased, and just to be sure the seats would meet the requirements of all theatre-goers, the tallest man in Glenboro — who stood about six-foot-nine — was enlisted to test them for overall comfort and leg room. "They passed and we installed them as soon as the urethane on the refinished floor was dry," Tanasichuk says. A piece of history was unearthed when the foundation on an outside wall was being replaced and a concrete cornerstone with the date 1939 was discovered. Since everyone knew the Gaiety hadn't opened until 1941, they were perplexed until a local veteran who was watching the excavation solved the mystery. It seems the building was completed in 1939, but since many local men went off to the Second World War that year, the theatre didn't open until two years later. Prices at the Gaiety concession reflect earlier times. Popcorn sells for $1.50 a bag, candy and chocolate bars go for $1.50 and pop is $1 per can. Admission is also back-in-the-day affordable at $5 for adults; $4 for students and $3 for children. The theatre is normally open Friday to Monday starting at 8 p.m., with occasional Saturday matinees for kids' movies. Schedules and film ratings are posted on the town's website at www.glenboro.com. The Gaiety draws full houses for many of its screenings, filling the 150 seats with people from Glenboro and the surrounding area as well. "Because our admission prices are inexpensive, we also attract a lot of birthday parties that would be prohibitively expensive for parents at a first-run theatre in Brandon," Tanasichuk says What makes her most proud is the way the community came together to keep the Gaiety alive. Citizens applied for matching grants from government agencies like Hometown Manitoba, which recently provided a LED-lighted sign for the building's exterior. Local businesses donated money, labour or materials to the renovation effort, and individuals organized fundraisers, including a Grease Sing-a-Long Movie and a Last Meal on the Titanic event. "I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Louise Laing, Ernestine Sepke and Dan Fehr, volunteers who have donated hours in the projection room screening 35mm and now digital movies," Tanasichuk says. "Frankly, my dears, we do give a damn." ❙ Home Depot and a crew of volunteers renovated the historic theatre in 2007. Photos courtesy of the Village of Glenboro

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