COLQUITT, Ga. (WTXL) - A Colquitt icon that has been sitting vacant for decades is almost ready to re-open.
"It served as a movie theater until the early 70s," said Cory Thomas, the Colquitt city manager. "It's hayday was in the 50s and 60s."
After a number of changes in name and ownership, the Colquitt State Theater is almost ready to host guests once again... but it will look a little different from the movie theater it used to be.
"We're going to have full seating capacity, tables, chairs, for close to 200 people. We have a full service catering kitchen where a cater can come in and bring their food, and do full service food here," said Thomas. "We're going to have a 12' by 24' stage, a state of the art audio and video system, that eventually we could possibly show movies here."
The main ballroom looks empty at the moment, but come next month, there will be plenty of opportunities to use this as a multi purpose space, and people are already showing interest.
"Our local citizens are calling wanting to rent it out and host baby showers, and other events, class reunions," said Kacee Holt, who's the president of the Colquitt-Miller County Chamber of Commerce. "We've got a lot of classes from Miller County that are excited about being able to host it here because of the memorabilia of it and the nostalgia and being able to come back to the theater where they used to hang out."
Rebuilding and renovating an entire theater to be an event space doesn't come cheap. OneGeorgia Authority, an organization dedicated to helping rural communities grow, offered financial help, while private donors chipped in.
"The remainder of the money came from local coffers to get the renovations done," said Thomas. "We have been able to secure just under $80,000 in private donations to help with a lot of the audio/visual equipment, and all the tables, chairs and staging.
The renovations at the Colquitt State Theater are rippling through the rest of downtown as well.
"The renovation of the theater has kind of trickled down and other businesses have spruced up our downtown square," said Holt. "The city has obviously been on board with the theater renovation, but also doing some other things as far as beautification on the downtown square."
Beautifying the city, and breathing new life into an old icon.
The hope is that Colquitt State Theater will be ready to rent by August 1, though the audio and visual equipment may not be ready for use until the end of the year.
