Jaffrey seeks to reopen movie theatre

by Chris Potter
Exchange Staff

     It may look like a normal store front but for more than 30 years Roy's Bike Shop in downtown Jaffrey has hidden a movie theater that operated from 1923 to1976, while its owners never gave up hope that one day it would be reopened.

     This Saturday, as a part of  Jaffrey's Scarecrows on the Common weekend, "Movies by the Park Theatre" will be showing The Bride of Frankenstein free of admission.

     Talks of the theater possibly being reopened began in 2002, and as of now Team Jaffrey (an organization dedicated to the revival of Main Street, Jaffrey) has given the Park Theater Corporation control over the project. The corporation was formed on  July 7, 2005, and is a private, nonprofit and tax exempt organization, which has been a major factor in the reconstruction/reopening of the theater.

     Spearheaded by Team Jaffrey, the Park Theater is on its way to being reopened with the support and donations from prior building owners Roy and Nancy Stone ($50,000), and the Bean family. "We were fortunate enough to receive a matching grant of $50,000 from the Bean Family Foundation," said Team Jaffrey member Bill Scholfield. The project has also received donations from over 800 people living in Jaffrey and surrounding towns to achieve the $1.8 million mark for restoration.

     The Jaffrey Board of Trustees has the intention of making the Park Theater a Monadnock regional center for the arts. In addition to movies and programs for kids through "ParkArts," the 600-seat theatre will include music acts, dance recitals, talent shows, after-school programs, Community Theater, Franklin Pierce performances, orchestral concerts, and more.

    The theater began as an Art Deco showplace when Romolo Vanni, an Italian immigrant first opened its doors to the public in 1929. For almost fifty years it operated as a movie house, periodically showing vaudeville acts that traveled from Boston. "The theatre ran pretty strong until 1972 when David Sawyer died in that plane crash,"  said Blythe Coleman, a long- time Jaffrey resident.  That fall the theatre closed and the building remained unused for three and a half years until Nancy and Roy Stone purchased it.

Still intact are the murals painted of the Four Seasons of Mt. Monadnock as seen from each town surrounding the mountain in 1940 and several of the original seats.

     Popcorn and refreshments will be served and prizes will be awarded to those who come in costume as The Bride or Frankenstein's monster on Saturday night.