Page 6 - BusinessWest November 14, 2022

to community and the secondary impact it offers; their story felt very similar to ours.”
For this issue, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at the Victory Theatre project and at how those involved believe that now, more than 40 years after the last movie was shown there, there is sufficient funding, and momentum, to get this initiative over the goal line.
Marquee Moments
Palmer told BusinessWest that she has been involved with several theater-restoration proj- ects, including the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, a project credited with helping to revitalize a city that had been devastated by the loss of its largest employer, General Electric (see related story on
page 8).
While all of these initiatives differed in some
ways, there was a common denominator: time. Indeed, almost all of these projects took sev-
eral decades to complete, she said, adding this is an element that is often overlooked in some com- munities undertaking such initiatives, including Holyoke.
“They all take a long time,” she said. “But the people who are working in these individual com- munities are only working on their project; they don’t realize that they’re in a pool of companions who have experienced the same thing.
“I worked on one in Ohio, the Woodward Opera House, that took 33 years,” she went on. “So there are two generations of people who have
At left, children watch a movie at the Victory Theatre in the ’70s. At right, a view of Suffolk Street and the theater from 1955.
been involved with that. I was brought in in the last three years, and I would talk to people who would say, ‘my parents were working on this back when I was in grade school.’”
There are at least two generations of Holyoke residents who have been hearing about, and been part of, efforts to restore the Victory Theatre.
Time has mostly stood still for the landmark since its last showing of the Clint Eastwood com- edy Every Way Which Way but Loose in 1979. As one enters the theater, there are some remnants from that final showing, including a few old pop- corn tubs, still to be seen.
Movie showings were the last chapter for the Victory, which was commissioned by leading industrialists in the city, including silk-factory
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6 NOVEMBER 14, 2022
FEATURE
BusinessWest