The rebirth of the Wildey Theatre: Gala fundraiser will help pay for renovations
BY ELIZABETH DONALD - News-Democrat
EDWARDSVILLE -- A few months ago, Alderman Rich Walker had a problem: 350 old theater seats of which to dispose.
He couldn't reuse them, and no other theater wanted to buy the old seats from the Wildey Theatre on Main Street. So he put out the word: Anyone who wanted a seat from the historic theater should come by Saturday and pick one up.
It was a massive crowd, people with trucks and vans picking up one seat or four. "Before you knew it, they were gone," Walker said. "They went to good homes."
That kind of community reaction is fueling the city's project to renovate the old Wildey Theatre into a community arts center under the city's Parks and Recreation Department. You may have seen those Wildey Theatre T-shirts walking around Edwardsville, or the marquees for the benefit concert later this week.
The Wildey Theatre closed in the 1980s and was purchased by the city in 1999 with a state grant. Seven developers were approached and declined to renovate the old theater.
Last year, the city approved a $2.8 million plan to renovate the theater portion of the building and reopen it as a public venue under the control of the parks department. The second and third floors will be habitable for tenants.
