Roxy Theatre marquee project completed

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This article was published 19/11/2020 (1883 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The front of the Roxy Theatre is as bright and shiny as ever, with the marquee renewal project recently wrapping up.

The approximately $45,000 project went off without much of a hitch, which Neepawa Theatre Centre chair Kate Jackman-Atkinson said is always a plus when it comes to construction projects.

The marquee, with fresh paint and bright lights, has been restored to its former glory as it appeared in the 1940s.

Along the way, a man who helped make signs for the marquee as a child decades ago reached out to the non-profit, community-owned theatre to pledge a donation to help out.

Harvey Kostenchuk’s father, John, managed the theatre — then in private hands — for approximately 30 years beginning in the late 1940s.

The younger Kostenchuk was born in 1954, when his father was already managing the theatre.

At the time, it was owned by the Asper family of Minnedosa, who also owned a drive-in theatre west of Neepawa and the theatre in Minnedosa. Leon Asper hired John to manage all three theatres, loaning him $7,000 to buy his family a house in Neepawa.

“The theatres were like second homes to me, my older brother and two sisters,” Kostenchuk said. “I remember Saturday afternoon matinee shows for kids were movies like Laurel & Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. Other silent movies, too. Disney’s ‘Sword in the Stone’ was an early movie that I remember getting a lot of swag from. Toys, that is!”

Kostenchuk helped his father make signs in the basement for the marquee out front, using large stencil and ink brushed on with a thick brush.

“On Fridays, dad and I would drive to all three theatres to check in on the ladies working at these theatres and do the bookwork and deposits, et cetera,” he said. “It was a road trip I looked forward to, cause he would let me sit on his lap and steer the car. Eventually, when I was older and could reach the pedals, he would let me drive the car around the drive-in, while he worked inside.”

Inspired by these positive memories, Kostenchuk, who now lives in Penticton, B.C., reached out to Jackman-Atkinson to pledge a donation toward the building’s ongoing maintenance.

“They’re doing a good job. I’m really happy that they’re keeping it up,” he said. “There are a lot of facilities like that going by the wayside.”

With the marquee restored, volunteers will move on to their next project, though Jackman-Atkinson said there’s nothing desperate they need to take care of at the moment.

Aside from a couple private rentals, the theatre has been closed throughout the pandemic.

A fundraiser concert featuring local band Lunch Money was scheduled to take place on Nov. 14, but was cancelled as the province fell under level orange in the Pandemic Response System.

“With all the messaging about cutting down on unnecessary gatherings … we thought it was the right decision to cancel it for now, but we’re kind of calling it a postponement because we do hope to host it,” Jackman-Atkinson said.

With the entire province now falling under level red, the decision to cancel has aged well.

For now, she said, they’re waiting out the pandemic and keeping the building viable for when they’re finally able to reopen.

“Being a public venue at a time when public gatherings are really to be minimized as much as possible, we’re just sitting tight and keeping the heat on.”

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB