At YESCO we love neon signs. Neon sign repair is a part of our heritage. We were involved with the refurbishment of the Chief Theater sign in Pocatello. Read the full article below.
POCATELLO — Following a drum roll and countdown, hundreds of people gathered in Old Town Pocatello and watched an icon come back to life Friday night. Once raffle winner Tom Potter threw the switch, the Chief Theater sign lit up the 200 block of North Main just like it did for more than half a century.
“How many people find this exciting?” Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad asked the crowd before turning the microphone over to Relight the Night Committee chairman Randy Dixon.
Chairwoman of the Historic Old Town Pocatello Foundation thanked all the donors and the countdown began. Although the night air was chilly, it was an unusually mild night for the annual parade that preceded the Chief sign relighting. Thousand of people lined Main Street and watched highly decorated vehicles and floats go by.
But the star of the show was the proud neon chief with the arrowheads below waiting for electricity to flow for the first time since the theater was destroyed by a fire in March 1993. The Chief opened Jan. 5, 1938, and memories of the theater were as bright as the sign Friday night.
The last employee to work at the Chief, Richard Gregersen, who is now 85, was on hand to watch an old friend shine brightly again. Gregersen began working as a projectionist at the Chief back in 1953 and was there until it closed, working as the technician for all operations in the theater.
Raffle winner Potter said throwing the switch on the sign was terrific and
reminded him of the times when his grandmother used to give him 75 cents to go watch a matinee.
“I feel it’s a great honor,” Potter said.
Bill McCurdy, who grew up in the Gate City, was on hand with his mother and brother to celebrate the resurrection of memories.
“I remember coming to see the Beatles in ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’” McCurdy said. “They sold really thick, long blue tickets with a photo of the Beatles on it.”
McCurdy also remembers he and his brother Jack couldn’t hear the movie because girls in the audience screamed the entire time it was showing.
Hawthorne Middle School art teacher Shawn Phelps, who spent his summers in Pocatello visiting his grandparents, said the relighting was special to him. His grandmother worked in a tax office above the old Oasis Bar, and his grandfather was a bell hop at the Whitman Hotel.
Phelps remembers his grandmother taking him to the Chief to see “Superman” in 1978 and “The Legend of the Lone Ranger” in 1981.
“My grandmother made me a Lone Ranger vest,” Phelps said.
Even people in the Friday crowd who were too young when the theater burned down to have seen movies there were excited about the sign coming back.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Will Ruska, who was 15 when they tore the charred remains of the theater down. “I want the culture of Old Town to grow.”
Also on hand to watch the relighting was Kim Smith, who was working as human relations director at Farmers Insurance when the Chief burned down. Her company was planning an employee event in the theater for 200 people.
“A friend called and said, ‘You better look out the window,’” Smith recalled. She could see the smoke from the fire from her home.
Old Town director Stephanie Palagi graduated from Pocatello High School and remembers the nearby Chief Theater well. She remembers bringing her little brother to the theater to see “The Rescuers Down Under” in 1991.
“We’ve heard so many wonderful stories,” Palagi said about members of the committees that worked to bring the sign back to life. “People told us about their first date after World War II or their first kiss. We hope all the kids in the crowd remember this night.”