Less than a week ago things at Spur’s Palace Theater were looking a lot more like the headquarters of the Grinch or Ebenezer Scrooge, with ceiling-high scaffolding blocking the stage, red mud coating part of the floor, and NO Santa Claus!
But by the eve of our annual Late Night Holiday Market, the elves had shown up to disassemble the scaffolding so the new, safer LED footlights and spotlights could shine through; the dirt was mopped up; the extension cords and construction mess were all put away; and the stage was set once more for children to line up with their Christmas wishes.
And what to everyone’s wondering eyes did appear Wednesday evening but Santa and Mrs. Claus, not only in their red-velvet finery and bearing candy canes to give away, but arriving at the Palace in a glistening white carriage drawn by a pair of noble Clydesdales driven by a handsome horseman in top hat and white gloves.
Try to beat that, Rudolph!
The power of volunteers and donations in our community is huge. Thanks to committed volunteers, Spur’s Palace Theater is once again the centerpiece of celebration, entertainment, and preservation in our county.
And thanks also, to volunteers in the Spur Area Chamber of Commerce, the Spur–Dickens County Public Library, the Dickens County Spur Senior Center, 4-H, numerous churches, the Masonic Lodge and more, retailers, vendors, and lodging hosts can find a favorable environment in which to do business.
At the Palace, new LED stage lighting replaces hot, hard-to-reach incandescent bulbs and is programmable for dimming and other effects; this was all provided by private donation, with hours of labor also donated by Jeff and Briana Sturgis of Spur and a volunteer crew. Likewise, a movable track for the movie screen was engineered by Sturgis along with Harry Bob Martin, and it was installed this fall with a great deal of help and a professional welding crew.
The Sturgises also recently organized cables and wires in the stage and balcony areas for safety, a long-needed improvement. Some of the expense has been covered by Galaxy Digital.
We look forward in 2025 to the return of movies at the Palace once more.
Maybe we’ll be able to schedule “Wicked”—at a classic movie house where no one will mind a singalong!
