Spotlight on $1.1 million

Hammers and hard work went into every inch of the Garrick Theatre in 1945, but now the Bonavista icon is getting a helping hand of another sort.

Loyola Hearn, Regional Minister for Newfoundland and Labrador, announced $700,000 towards the restoration of the theatre in Bonavista on Saturday. The money comes from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, (ACOA) and will go a long way towards the $1.61-million project.

"The ... federal investment we're making will enhance Bonavista's tourism infrastructure and improve this region's status as a destination of choice for travellers to Newfoundland and Labrador," says Hearn.

Clyde Jackman, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, echoed Hearn's thoughts on tourism when he announced a $400,000 investment from the provincial government last Thursday.

The Bonavista Historic Townscape Foundation owns the building, and work has already begun to outfit the theatre for cinema and live productions.

The Chair of the Bonavista Historic Townscape Foundation hasn't forgotten about the year-round potential for the site.

"This theatre is intended primarily for the benefit of people who reside in the area, and that's why it's important that it operate year-round," says Gordon Bradley.

Bradley is not the only one eager to see the silver screen lit up.

"For more than 50 years it was the main source of entertainment here," he says. "Quite a lot of people in Bonavista are looking forward to that theatre coming on stream again."

Roger Fitzgerald, MHA for Bonavista South, is one of them.

He believes the theatre will be just one more thing to cement the town, and region, as a favourite tourist destination.

"I always say that a trip to Newfoundland without going to Bonavista is like going to Florida without going to Disney World.

"This is Newfoundland at its finest, where you see the fences painted up, the animals in the back gardens and the olders houses well maintained and looking as they were in years gone by."

The refurbished Garrick Theatre will add to that, he says.

And Fitzgerald envisions it as a prime site for something other than entertainment.

He says the Theatre would make an ideal setting for visiting lecturers, offering insight into the past.

"It will be a place where tourist will have another reason to stay a little longer on the Bonavista Peninsula because there will be one more thing for them to do."

Reflecting on the town's development as a tourism destination, Fitzgerald notes, "It used to be that a strange licence plate in Bonavista was simply a tourist that got in your way as you were going home for lunch."

He says that was in the day when the fishery was the mainstay and no one needed income from another industry.

"Most people were getting their living from that little postage stamp that was the harbour and the fish plant. And then the fishery diminished, they suddenly realized they had something to offer, and they started to see things from the eyes of the tourist."

Now, Bonavista is one of the gems of the province's tourism product, he says, thanks in large part to the hard work of people like Gordon Bradley and the Foundation.

The Townscape Foundation hopes to bring up the curtain by next summer.

When that happens, Bradley will have seen the theatre through every step of its history. His brother John built it in 1945. Bradley himself used a horse to haul sand from Lance Cove (near the Dungeon) to mix the original foundation. In three and a half months, a team of six carpenters and one foreman built the theatre that is still the crown of Church Street. John was just 21 when the theatre first opened its doors on Christmas Day, 1945.

The theatre is busy again with the calls of carpenters and electricians as the foundation gets to work on refurbishing the interior. Contractors have begun installing a ventilation system, and electricity is next. The foundation has postponed other fundraising efforts while the contractors get up and running, says foundation general manager Melissa Boyce. The foundation is responsible for $210,000.

When opening night does come to Bonavista, you can be guaranteed of a good time.

"It will be a celebration," says Boyce.

lbutton@thepacket.ca