KAMAS, Utah — Blanca Partida grew up going to the movies every Saturday.
“I remember how the kids light up when they knew they were going to the theater, and they were going to have popcorn, and then we're going to watch a movie," she said. “Movies have been a part of my life in one way or another, and so I would want to give that back again to Kamas."
The historic Kamas Theater, originally opened in the early 1900s as an opera house, has been closed for almost 10 years. When Partida’s husband, Reed Bearbower, saw it was for lease, he thought he would turn it into a workshop for his handyman business, "Mountain Handy."
“I walked in, I'm like, 'Why don't we just open it as a theater again?'" said Partida.
The couple decided to restore the old theater, bringing movies and special events back to Kamas.
“There’s not a whole lot to do up here unless you're a camper [or] fisher — which a lot of people are, but if you're not, there's really not too much to do," said Bearbower.
There’s still a lot to do to get it up and running: fix the ceiling, do some painting, redo the refreshment area, and find a projector.
Since word got out, people won’t stop talking about how excited they are to see the theater come back.
“They've walked in on Saturdays when we've been doing work and had to tell about, ‘I used to, you know, hang out in this corner making out with so-and-so,'" Bearbower said. "They want to come back and see movies here again."
Hopefully by the fall, Partida says, residents in Kamas won’t have to drive all the way to Park City or Heber just to see a movie.
“It’s not always feasible during the winter, because we do get some pretty bad storms," she said. "So if you can drive less than five minutes away from your home, but you could still give your kids a night out, I think that's what we need up here.”
