The Vogue Theatre in Fernie has now been open for six weeks following the lifting of COVID restrictions, and its owners are breathing a sigh of relief.
Co-owner Dennis Djonlich said they’ve had a good response so far since their June 25 reopening which allows them to operate at 50 percent capacity.
“It’s been great, it’s been better than expected,” said Djonlich.
He said the theatre was closed for 15 months due to COVID and that closure was hard on them.
“It was pretty hard,” Djonlich said.
“It was tough. A lot of bills, no money coming in.”
He said the community helped get them through the months of closures.
“We were closed for a long time, it was sort of touch and go whether we were going to be able to keep it going,” Djonlich said.
“But the town and the valley came through for us when we needed them as far as the popcorn fairy delivery, so that kept us going for quite a while.”
Now that they’ve reopened Djonlich said the turnout has exceeded expectations.
“The support’s been great, and the crowds are back. It’s business as usual,” he said.
“It’s moved along a lot quicker than we expected. I think there’s just a lot of pent up demand to get out and live a normal life again.”
Djonlich said he’s hopeful they can make up for the loss from the closure.
“It’s one day at a time,” he said.
“Our hope is that we don’t get shut down again coming into winter.”
He said the theatre is looking forward to Stage 4 of the province’s reopening plan, which would allow them to open at full capacity, but he’s not sure if it will happen yet.
“I’m not entirely confident that there won’t be some sort of restriction once summer’s over,” Djonlich said.
READ MORE: ‘Cautious optimism’ – Shuttered Fernie businesses look to open back up
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