Fox Theatre burglars victimized us all

WALSENBURG — Last week’s burglary at Walsenburg’s Fox Theatre was not just a crime against the town’s popular focal point of social activity. The moment brazen thieves hurled a rock through the theater’s glass door the night of July 6, making off with thousands of dollars of equipment, they literally burglarized and victimized every citizen of Huerfano County. The Fox has been a fixture on Walsenburg’s Main Street since 1917, when it opened as the Star Theatre. The modern history of the Fox has its roots in 1992 when the Optimists Club, spark-plugged by the efforts of Walsenburg resident George Birrer, resurrected the then-closed theater.

Through the sweat of many brows, the work of hundreds of hands, the infusion of thousands of dollars in grants, donations and loans, the run-down structure gradually was restored. About seven years ago, the building was signed over to Huerfano County, making every taxpaying citizen a stakeholder in the little gem on Main Street. In 2017, the Fox was leased to the Spanish Peaks Community Foundation, whose volunteers have maintained and operated it ever since. The Fox’s stage has hosted entertainment from El Fandango to the Celtic Music Festival and myriad local artists.

Its first-run films provide a homey alternative to the Pueblo multiplex. Among the items stolen last week was sound equipment used for “Movies on the Green,” a summertime treat in which the Fox runs free movies at the Walsenburg Golf Course utilizing a portable projection set-up. There used to be what one would call “frontier justice” out here in the West. There is historical precedent even in Walsenburg, where three Italian immigrants accused of murder were gunned down by an angry mob at the Walsenburg Jail in March of 1895.

While we adamantly oppose execution, either spontaneous or state-sanctioned, now is the time for all of us to become something akin to modern-day “vigilantes. ” Someone almost certainly saw something the night of July 6. The stolen items – audio equipment and a generator – may well turn up in a pawn shop or online. There are clues out there.

We should all remain vigilant and pass any stitch of information regarding these miscreants to the Huerfano County Sheriff’s Office. And we should use this incident as a reminder to remain vigilant, to rally together, to look out for our neighbors during these often-fraught times.