It was the booming and rumbling in downtown Lac La Biche hamlet last Tuesday afternoon that first alerted residents that it was officially the end of an era. The 70-year old Aurora Theatre was torn down last week after being out of use since 2013.
It was the booming and rumbling in downtown Lac La Biche hamlet last Tuesday afternoon that first alerted residents that it was officially the end of an era. The 70-year old Aurora Theatre was torn down last week after being out of use since 2013.
Fatima Taha, whose family operated the theatre for 38 years after purchasing it in 1968, said she has mixed feelings about the theatre officially being gone. Although her family had not operated the building as a theatre since 2006, they still owned the building at the time of its demolition.
“It’ s sad to see it go, I have 38 years of memories there, but everything in life has to go,” she said. “Nothing in life lasts forever, so I have mixed feelings about it. I’ m sad to see it go but I also accept it.”
Although the Taha’ s had had the theatre up for sale for many years and even looked into having it designated as a historical building, they were unsuccessful. So due to its poor structural state, they felt it was no longer feasible to keep the building standing.
“Unfortunately no one was willing to buy it to restore it or preserve it as a historical site,” said Taha. “And I couldn’ t afford to restore it.”
For Taha, her fondest memories of the theatre were working with her family to operate the business. She took tickets at the door every night for 38 years before then going to work behind the concession stand. As her children grew up, they also took jobs at the theatre.
“Some of my kids worked there as they grew up,” she said. “So the family was together.”
Over the years Taha said the theatres saw ups and downs in patronage, everything from nights the theatre was sold out and they had to turn customers away, to nights they ran the projector for only four or five people. She said it all came down to what the movie of the time was.
“We had the Sound of Music, 10 Commandments, Titanic, Loyalties - which was filmed in Lac La Biche,” she said, adding that they mostly played older movies after they’ d already debuted in bigger cities. “As a business, it had its ups and downs but for a family working together, you couldn’ t ask for anything better.”
