Fox Theater: full color movies coming soon

WALSENBURG — Huerfanos love weekend trips to the Fox for the latest Hollywood release and the buttered popcorn, but the last few months had been frustrating: the red element of the three-color digital projector was missing.

Mike Peters, director of the Spanish Peaks Community Foundation, reported that fundraising and donations had brought the foundation close to the funds needed to fix or replace the failing equipment. Several more fundraisers would be needed before the Fox could go “Technicolor” again.

The foundation took over the theatre in 2015 and immediately began having problems with the projector. Costly repairs kept it running until the previous fall, when the red channel failed. Repairing the now four-year-old unit was quoted at about $22,000 with no guarantee other parts would not fail soon. Replacement bids came in around $37,000.

Whatever the board decided, full-color movies were on the horizon. Peters stressed keeping the historic theatre alive through modest ticket increases, more showtimes, and continued volunteer labor — about thirty volunteers, with youth job training and more than $25,000 in paid labor added to the local economy over the past year.