Time's running out for the Patricia Theatre

What happens after April 30?

The clock’s ticking to save the Patricia Theatre. “We’ve known for the past five years that there needed to be a plan to raise the funds to purchase the Patricia Theatre,” said Ann Nelson, who along with her son, Brian and The Patricia Entertainment Company, own and operate the iconic Townsite heritage building and the business.

“The mortgage on the Patricia expires on April 30 of this year and there’s no option for renewal,” she said.

Ann is tired. She’ll be 79 this year and she’s in poor health. She’s on a waiting list for seniors housing and is more than ready to retire. She and the Powell River Film Society have been working on a succession plan for the Patricia to become a community asset, operated for the community by the community.

And the Powell River Film Society is ready to take over. There’s just one small problem: they need money. $450,000 to buy the Patricia.

“Very soon I will be in default,” says Ann who has been using the money she gets from CERB and her old age pension to pay the mortgage since the theatre was forced to close on March 17 of 2020 when a provincial health emergency was declared due to the COVID pandemic. The business has been “dark” since that time because it’s in the category of high risk businesses, like event venues.

We don’t want people to walk by that corner and say: this is where the theatre used to be. We want to have a place to show films in Powell River and the Patricia is our last hope for that.

Gary Shilling, executive director of the Powell River Film Society, says the society’s goal is to secure the Patricia and to do that they need to raise a lot of money.

“It’s such an important landmark,” he says. “If it went on the open market I expect it would sell quickly. Someone could buy it and tear it down or convert it to townhouses.”

And that’s something that neither Ann nor the Powell River Film Society, want to see happen.

Since taking over the operation of the Patricia in 2002 for the First Credit Union during foreclosure on the previous owner/operator, Ann and Brian have been dedicated to the preservation, restoration and sustainable operation of the theatre to ensure a future for this heritage building.

The film society has been involved in the theatre since 2007. They’ve had a collaborative arrangement of a non- profit community organization working with a private business that’s been good for both.

With more than $600,000 identified in need of repairs on this heritage building, the film society was pleased to learn that they’d receive $103,000 in Heritage BC grant money for restoration and repairs. That money will be lost if the society cannot buy the Patricia.

The money the Film Society (amalgamated with the Friends of the Historic Patricia Theatre Society in 2019), raised in the community for the digital film system at the Patricia nine years ago has been treated as their “down payment,” on purchasing the theatre. “That investment is recognized as part of the equity the community has made the theatre,” said Gary.

The preservation of this historic theatre that has been in Powell River since 1913 – the first Patricia was in a tent and this, the Patricia’s ‘new building,’ was built in 1928 – is important, said Gary. “Powell River had the first medical plan, the first credit union and it has the longest continuously running theatre in all of Canada.”

The history of the Patricia and the history of Powell River and the Townsite are all intricately woven together. “We don’t want people to walk by that corner and say: this is where the theatre used to be,” said Gary. “We want to have a place to show films in Powell River and the Patricia is our last hope for that.”

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Time’s running out. Ann’s 79 th birthday is quickly approaching. The mortgage on the Patricia expires on April 30 and that’s not far away. Renewing the mortgage and running the Patricia any longer is simply not an option open to Ann.

NOT READY FOR RETIREMENT: Long-time operator Ann Nelson, at 79, is ready to retire. But The Patricia is certainly not. It’s been closed for all but a few private screenings since March 2020.

Save The Patricia

If you can help save this much-loved community asset that has become a veritable icon of the identity for the Townsite National Historic District and its renaissance, please consider making a donation to the Powell River Film Society by visiting prfilmfestival.ca and opening the tab, patriciatheatreforever.

BY ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT