Firehouse Theater

The Firehouse Theater is the first and only movie theater in Kingston, Washington, a town of 2,000 people across the Puget Sound from Seattle. It is located in a refurbished two-rig firehouse on State Route 104 near the city's ferry terminal. The boutique duo-plex was opened in May 2009 by Craig Smith, a lifelong movie fan, with his life-savings after he closed his movie-rental business. Initially setting out to only feature independent and art house films, Smith realized his independent movie theater needed to also run blockbuster films. He had to upgrade from 35mm movie film to digital requiring new projectors. After going into debt, fans set up a volunteer corps, and a GoFundMe fundraising page to pay down the business loans, and transition into a non-profit corporation. As of February 2020, the fund reached over $217,000 with nearly 5,000 donors.

Firehouse Theater
Old Firehouse
Theater logo featuring a 35mm film camera
Address11171 NE State Hwy 104
Kingston, Washington
LocationKitsap County, Washington
OperatorCraig Smith
TypeTheatre
Genre(s)movies, events
Capacity192
Construction
Opened2009-15-05 (2009-15-05)
Renovated2008
Construction cost$500,000
Website
KingstonFirehouse.com

Description

The Firehouse Theater is the first and only movie theater in Kingston.[1][2] It is located in a refurbished two-rig firehouse on State Route 104, a few blocks from the Kingston Ferry.[3] The firehouse used to be the central station for North Kitsap Fire and Rescue.[2] The theater is split between the lobby and two movie bays in the former two-rig bay firehouse: a 144-seat Main Stage with an extra “cry room” for families with babies and small children; and the smaller 48-seat Back Stage theater.[4][5]

Prior to co-owning the movie house, Smith ran a video rental store in Kingston.[4][6][7] He spent his life savings of $400,000 in 2008 to convert the old firehouse into a theater.[4][8]

History

The Firehouse Theater was founded in 2008, and opened in May 2009, by Craig Smith, a devoted film fan who invested his family's savings—$500,000 as of February 2020–into the venture, and is often the sole employee, assisted by volunteers in the reconditioned firehouse.[1][4][9][6][10] Initially setting out to only feature independent and art house films, Smith realized running blockbusters as well was financially beneficial.[4]

Though initially outfitted for 35mm films he was compelled in 2012 to replace the projectors to show modern films from digital hard disk drives on Christie projectors in the independent theater.[1][9][6][11]

A GoFundMe campaign was set up in 2020 by Smith to retire the debt of the digital projectors, and business loans, upgrade the theater's lighting, and finance the transition into a non-profit corporation.[9] Within the first week it had raised almost $6,000, then on the weekend of February 9, 2020, Sunday Morning on CBS News ran a feature on Smith and his theater, within ninety minutes the fund reached $100,000, by February 12 it reached $190,000 with nearly 5,000 donors.[1][9][8] As of February 25, 2020, the effort has raised over $218,000.[12]

References
  1. Cowan, Lee (February 9, 2020). "A small town silver-screen fairy tale, with real buttered popcorn". CBS News Sunday Morning. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  2. Hanson, Kendall (2009-05-29). "Benefit gala kicks off Kingston Firehouse opening". Kitsap Daily News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  3. Moore, Michael C. (December 30, 2019). "A Star Wars costume party highlights the small-town movie theater". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  4. Kornelis, Chris (December 2, 2019). "One Independent Movie Theater Struggles to Survive in the Netflix Age". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  5. Morris, Jennifer (2010-01-07). "Firehouse Theater: A man, a dream and a commitment". Kitsap Daily News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  6. Park, Ken (2020-01-31). "Kingston's Firehouse Theater: 10 years later". Kitsap Daily News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  7. Smith, Craig (2009-06-30). "INDEPENDENTLY SPEAKING". Kitsap Daily News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  8. Morgan, David (February 11, 2020). "A Hollywood happy ending for theater owner in Washington state". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  9. Park, Ken (February 15, 2020). "Kingston theater gathers $190,000 through fundraiser". Kitsap Daily News. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  10. "Firehouse Theater opens May 15". Kitsap Daily News. 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  11. Robertson, Kipp (2012-04-27). "Firehouse goes digital". Kitsap Daily News. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  12. Smith, Craig (February 25, 2020). "Kingston Firehouse Theater organized by Craig C Smith". GoFundMe.com. Retrieved February 25, 2020.

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