Apollo Theatre gets new look

Friday, July 15, 2011

ST. MARYS - The line of people waiting to see the last Harry Potter movie could already be seen early Thursday at the Apollo Theatre in St. Marys.
It's a situation that can be attributed in part to the amount of work that has been done in the last two years to modernize The Apollo Theatre in St. Marys.
The theatre was purchased by Bill, Darlene, Alyson and Nicklas Lynch in February 2009.
The first step they took was to remodel the theatre, while trying to keep some of the history inside the more than 80 year old building. Now they are focusing efforts on the outside.
This week, Tri-County Painting and Wood Finishing of Ridgway transformed what had been an all beige building into a bright centerpiece downtown.
"We wanted curb appeal," Darlene Lynch said.
It's just one step in the updating of the theatre. The roof over the stage in the back of the building, which is not visible by the public, was repaired already with money from the Redevelopment Authority and with the help of Sen. Joe Scarnati.
Lynch said future plans include repairing another of the building's roofs and putting in new doors.
Since purchasing the building, the Lynch's have remodeled the lobby of the building so that it closely resembles its appearance in 1928.
They have added reclining seats, updated the concession stand and put a new sound system in place. The marquee has been improved as well.
Lynch said last summer they added air conditioning to the facility and put in a second boiler so both theaters have their own heating system as well as new windows.
"We have had a lot of community support from all over the county," Lynch said.
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Reported by JoAnn Seltzer, staff writer. E-mail:jseltzer@thecourierexpress.com.