Public gets peek at Fox

The red carpet rolled out Saturday night for the grand opening of Spokane’s Fox Theater was gone by Sunday afternoon. As were the celebrity guests, which included Washington’s governor.

But the thousands of people who wandered in to get a peek at the once-decrepit historic art deco theater restored to its former glory didn’t seem to mind the lack of glitz.

The theater itself is extravagant even without all the fuss.

“They did a bang-up job,” said Lloyda Kirkland, 82, who last remembers visiting the Fox in 1943 to see a movie, though she couldn’t recall which one.

Kirkland joined the masses for Community Day at the newly restored Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, with free performances and tours all day concluding with a concert by the Spokane Symphony.

Debbie Brearey brought Kirkland, and her niece, Kaylee Haven, 9, to see what the buzz was about. The trio stood on the stairs to the mezzanine level, necks craned toward the ceiling, ogling the star-shaped chandeliers. A bluegrass musician picked away on a banjo nearby.

“I remember it used to be so dark,” said Brearey, remembering the blood-red carpeting, replaced now with a blue diamond pattern. The lobby walls are now a bright sea green with silver accents.

While the color scheme may have changed, the $31 million project kept much of the historical integrity of the building intact.

“We’ve been following the whole revitalization,” said Spokane resident John Mote, who stood with his wife, Mari, admiring recently snapped photos with his digital camera.

“It’s just beautiful.”

In the main theater, gawkers came in and out as the Spokane Youth Symphony was gearing up for a performance.

The seating was scaled down from more than 2,000 seats to about 1,700 to make room for the inner lobby.

“I remember the seating used to extend out here,” said Bob Larson, who passed through the inner lobby into the new main lobby with his wife, Mary Helen, and two children, Katie, 14 and Bobby, 15.

Larson recalled bringing Bobby to the theater when he was just an infant to see the movie “A River Runs Through It.”

He also remembered the theater as dark and run-down.

“It’s wonderful to see the transformation,” he said.