Image: Oliver Daily News
The long-running Oliver Theatre is for sale for $599,900.
The historic theatre in downtown Oliver is up for sale.
The theatre, listed for $599,900, has been in operation since 1947. It’s had the same owners for the past 42 years, as outlined in the sale description.
Also attached to the facility is an apartment with three bedrooms and one bathroom.
The current owners, David and Christine Lesmeister, are the third owners of the building, as explained in the spring 2017 edition of Archivos, a historical journal published by the Okanagan Archive Trust Society.
The Lesmeisters took ownership in the mid-1970s from David’s parents, who had purchased the theatre in 1964 from the original owner Alex Gough.
The Archivos article is written by Curtis and Silmara Emde, who last fall released a documentary highlighting the survival of many old theatres in the Okanagan and Kootenays, including the Oliver Theatre.
“Converting the theatre to digital projection in 2012-13 allowed the Lesmeisters to keep screening the latest Hollywood product, and therefore, the theatre has been able to keep entertaining Oliver and area well into the second decade of the 21st century,” the article reads.
“But something more lies at the heart of their success… They wanted to create a space where everyone would be able to enjoy the film they’d paid to see.”
When news broke on social media of the theatre being for sale, many residents expressed a desire for it to remain in operation.
“It is a real asset to the community and surrounding areas,” one person stated online.
“This is my (favourite) place to go in all of the South Okanagan… Hope whomever buys it maintains the place. It is epic and an iconic place,” another poster said.
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