by PAUL RAYNER

Hopes are the closure of the Boissevain Community Theatre due to flooding over the Christmas season will not last much longer.

Movies have been canceled since the discovery of major flooding on New Years Day. According to projectionist Brad Peters, the situation was first discovered by a customer at neighbouring Choy’s restaurant on the first day of the year, who reported it to a Town of Boissevain employee, with the word soon getting to theatre personnel. The tip off was ice coming out of the front door.

“Some water had come out onto Stephen Street,” Peters explained, “and it froze out there. The pathway was icy, so was the street and the sidewalk.”

The situation inside the theatre was worse. The auditorium was filled with water, covering the floor up to the second row of seats by the lobby. In the low part, the water was plenty high.

“We didn’t measure it, but it was just below the stage.”

Peters said the flooding was caused by a broken water pipe on the north side of the building in the change room area on the east end. His understanding is the water pipe froze, as there is a separate thermostat in that area of the theatre, and it got too cold for pipes close to the outside wall. As well, the fact the theatre was not in use may have been a contributing factor to the seriousness of the problem.

“Because it was closed over Christmas,” he explained, “no one went in there to check, which compounded the problem. It was closed for a week, so no one has any idea how long it was running. The way it happened it could have run for a while in the wall with no one noticing.”

The water was drained fairly soon, and they were able to get a look at some of the damage. As Peters said, some, such as water damage to the walls, is hard to determine at this point. However, there is floor damage in the change rooms as well as obvious damage to the pipes. As seats close to the stage were nearly completely underwater, there will be warping there. Some of the contents of the back storage rooms that were on or near the floor got wet and were put on the stage to dry. Although not checked at the time of speaking, it was assumed that any lumber stored under the stage would be unusable.

Peters met with representatives of Cancade Restoration on Monday. He said at this point, insurance has no estimate of the damage, but he feels there will be at least some good news, in that the insurance covers the building and contents and should take care of any repairs or replacement.

The theatre has been closed since the flooding, with the January 2/3, January 8 film festival and January 9/10 movies canceled. At this point, they plan to re-open for the January 16/17 show. Peters said there was not much cleanup left and fortunately, all of the projection equipment is upstairs and immune to the water.

“We really don’t want to be closed too long.”