Duo get to save theater — finally

GUNNISON, Sanpete County — The day Lori Nay and Diana Spencer closed a deal to buy the 92-year-old Star Theater on Main Street in Gunnison, the marquee announced, "New Ownership" — a reflection of nearly two decades of their intentions to restore the historic building.

Back in the late 1980s, Spencer, now a retired Snow College professor, and Nay, a doctor's wife and Gunnison city councilwoman, had helped organize a group called Save Our Star (SOS), in order to purchase the ornate theater. But their efforts were unsuccessful, and it went to another buyer.

In 2004, a for-sale sign again went up in the box office of the Star, one of the most notable structures along U.S. 89. Within five weeks, Nay and Spencer incorporated a nonprofit organization, put up earnest money with 24 hours notice and came up with an $8,000 down payment — and the theater was theirs.

"How many times," Spencer says, "do the fates provide a second chance on frustrated dreams?"

Built in 1912, the structure was originally called the Casino Theater. (That was before the word "casino" conjured up images of Las Vegas gambling houses, Spencer says.) A later owner changed the name to the Star Theater.

Nay and Spencer renamed it the Casino Star Theater in recognition "of the theater's entire history as an entertainment center for the Gunnison Valley."

Around the turn of the century, theaters were the most elaborate buildings in many communities. The Casino Star was built in the same era as the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City, the Empress Theatre in Magna and Peery's Egyptian Theater in Ogden.

The Casino Star has the intricate decoration characteristic of beaux-arts architecture. The decorations tend to deteriorate, which is why few beaux-arts structures remain. Spencer, who has done research on the building, says that as far as she can determine, the Casino Star is the only beaux-arts theater west of the Mississippi that is still operating.

The original facade included columns, statues, cherubs and flowers. People entered through a huge arch lined with more than 350 terra cotta roses. Inside each rosette was a light bulb. Those bulbs lit up not only the theater but virtually the whole Gunnison Main Street, Nay says.

As part of a potential $1 million restoration, the women hope to restore the arch, flowers and light bulbs. "When we light it up, the (Gunnison) prison won't have anything on us," Nay says.