Save the Historic Cody Theatre Marquee
You may have noticed the Cody Theatre’s marquee has sagged. It’s an iconic part of the historic look of downtown Cody and needs help. The owners have a funding campaign asking for $25,000 to bring it back to its glory.
The owners knew work on the marquee was on the horizon. But this past July, that work became more urgent when tiles on the wall below the marquee began to pop and crack.
Cables and other temporary structural fixes were put into place. To add insult to injury, the neon sign was vandalized sometime in July, causing the need for further restoration work.
While they are ready to get to work, they are waiting on approvals from various entities, but they can start in on the work to raise funds and are turning to the town for help.
From the fundraising page:
The historic Cody Theatre was built in 1936 in downtown Cody, Wyoming. After 88 years of lighting up main street with its bulb lights and original neon’s, the massive marquee is in need of serious electrical and structural repair. This summer, with the guidance of a structural engineer, we were able to halt and temporarily fix the visible “sagging” issue that began in July with cables to ensure its safety. Unfortunately due to the weight and abruptness of the initial sag that happened, extensive damage occurred to the facade/tiles of the front of the building. Also unfortunately this summer, our neon’s on the east side of the marquee were vandalized when someone jumped up from the side walk and broke the glass causing that entire side of the marquee neon’s to be unfunctional.
As you can imagine, the cost to fix this all is astronomical. We do NOT want to lose the iconic marquee, neon’s, or change the look but want to restore the historic marquee back to its former glory and repair the damages that have been done.
We LOVE being located right on Cody’s historic main street but as this is also a state highway, we have learned this creates many more loops, red tape, delays, and out of pocket costs needed to begin the repairs. Over $2000 has already been spent just on plans and the temporary fixes.
Help SAVE THE MARQUEE by donating what you can and spreading the word!
To see more images of current condition of neon & marquee; see here
About The Cody Theatre:
In 2019 The Cody Theatre was purchased by local residents born and raised in Cody and Cody High School sweethearts, Ryan and Elizabeth Fernandez. The sole purpose was to save the historic theatre and give it a new purpose with the goal of keeping the theatre’s historic mid-century modern integrity and providing a unique venue for LIVE performing arts and cinematic events for community groups. Elizabeth Fernandez is the founder of local 501c3 nonprofit performing arts organization, Rocky Mountain Dance Theatre (RMDT), since 2016 RMDT had rented the Cody Theatre for its summer Wild West Spectacular the Musical production which made their purchase a perfect fit. Since 2019, 501c3 Rocky Mountain Dance Theatre has managed the historic Cody Theatre building supporting many programs, productions, and events within it’s walls. The Cody Theatre continues to be home to RMDT’s summer season of Wild West Spectacular the Musical welcoming tourists from all over the world and in 2021 RMDT’s The Cody Theatre Company, a regional performing group, was formed offering yearly fall and spring productions for the surrounding area to participate in and to enjoy. Any money raised over and above the costs to fix the marquee and damages will go directly back to maintaining the historic Cody Theatre building and its uses.
Janet Jones
Owner of Cody Journal
Janet has a rich history in Cody with her grandparents moving here in the late 1930s. Her grandfather started Wyoming Well Service. Janet is a writer, photographer, graphic designer and webmaster. Cody Journal and Cody Calendar blends her skills and talents with her love of the area.
This article is proudly sponsored by Cody Calendar advertisers
