SHELBY — Community members and business owners have come together to form the Roxy Theater Board of Trustees in an effort to reopen the Roxy Theater in Shelby.
After the Roxy Theater in downtown Shelby closed in 2019, it sat empty for five years until the building owners put it up for sale this past April. Noticing the ‘for sale’ sign, a group of six locals formed the Roxy Theater Group Board of Trustees, with a plan to purchase and restore the nearly eighty-year-old building. The board includes Jeanne McDonough, Melissa Flesch, Brice Kluth, Dr. Alan Bridge, Jade Goroski and Bill Hunt.
Bill Hunt, a board member on the Roxy Theater Group Board of Trustees, explains, “Myself and five others pretty much noticed a ‘for sale’ sign at the same time, and wanted to do something with the theater and get it back up and running. So we pretty much magically converged and decided to form a group, and approached the city council about purchasing it and leasing it back to us.”
Recently, the City purchased the building, using donated funds allotted for community benefit. No local tax dollars were used for the purchase or restoration of the Roxy. The City will now lease the building to The Roxy Theater Group Board of Trustees, who are working to secure their nonprofit status and funding through grants and donations to renovate the theater and operate it.
Hunt says, “I'm really pleasantly surprised and amazed by the city's willingness to step up and make this work. One of the things small local governments can do is really revitalize deteriorating downtown areas.”
While the interior of the Roxy is in surprisingly good shape, and sporting a new roof recently installed by the City, there is still a lot of work to be done. The building needs new carpet, updates to the electricals, HVAC work, sound equipment and projectors, a deep cleaning, and of course work to get the neon lights back up and running, a downtown Shelby trademark.
Roxy Theater Group Board of Trustees member Melissa Flesch says, “It's going to do so much for the community just to see it all lit up again at night with all the neon lights. A lot of these businesses up and down Main Street, we surround ourselves with the neon light theme. In the evenings, it's so beautiful when you catch all these lights, and our beautiful Shelby light down there too. It's just really good energy”.
The Board and other members of the community agree that the theater is an integral part of small-town culture. One board member, Jeanne McDonough, grew up in Shelby and remembers going to the theater as a child, and bringing her children and grandchildren to the Roxy for matinees and popcorn. McDonough explains, “Whether you're two or you're ninety, it's the theater, right? You're going to have an involvement with that. You have an opportunity to come to movies”.
It will take some time before the Roxy is ready for a premiere. Donations, volunteers, and grants are needed to keep the project on track. If you’re interested in helping out or donating, contact the Roxy Theater Board of Trustees at roxy_is_cool@yahoo.com.
