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4- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, March 3, 1998 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" By Chris Hall Port Perry Star Making his way through the historic building, Sal Arrigo pauses when he reaches the front entrance and wide steps of the local Town Hall and puts his hand out to touch the tarnished wooden surface. "I bet this all used to look really attrac- tive; it looks terrible now," he said last week while strolling through the rooms of Port Perry's Town Hall 1873. "There's really nice wood under there but it hasnt seen daylight in years; there's probably ten coats of paint here." While the local building may be a popu- lar spot for the region's theatre crowd and may be steep with tradition, Mr. Arrigo explained that its time changes were made to restore the beauty of the hall and to modernize some of the rooms. One of the 16 people that sit on the Town Hall Board, Mr. Arrigo -- a first-year member that represents the Borelians -- Renovations could cost $25,000 says he has sights set on making three key changes to one of Port's main land- mark attractions. Throughout the course of this summer, Mr. Arrigo has plans to enlarge the cur- rent dressing room, redo the walls in the lower meeting room as well as the large staircase, and remove the covers over the large exterior windows and put up theatre curtains. Upon entering the east doors off of Simcoe St., the Town Hall director turns and enters the large meeting room and points over to the far corner towards a makeshift room set up using barriers and covered in clothes. "This is the men's dressing room," he Sal wants to see facilities improved and livened up says with a chuckle. "We have a large cast with the "Ten Lost Years" production and the real dressing room is too small and there's no separation for men and women so the gentlemen change out here." He continues to explain the disparity of the prep room as he points to a small table with mirrors adjacent to the mens' dressing room. "That is where we do make-up," he says without a smile on his face. Continuing on his tour of the building, he opens a door of a decent- sized room and sums up _. what he sees: "This dress- Ny ing room is a laugh. There's professionals that come here and refuse to use it and I don't blame them." The room is a cluttered mess with exposed elec- trical panels, awkwardly placed pipes and poor heating and lighting. But, after pointing out the poor features of the dim room, Mr. Arrigo begins to smile and he starts explaining his plans. "First thing I want to do is rip out this wall," he exclaims, running his hand along the structure that separates the dress- ing room from the large meeting room. "I want to move it out six or eight- feet and put a partition through it for men and women. "If we have enough money I would also like to put a removable partition through the meeting room as well. But, first of all, any money we get will go towards expanding the dressing room; that's for sure," he said, adding that he would like to see the bathroom in the dressing room enlarged. Walking back through the meeting room his gaze falls upon the numerous pictures of stars who have performed over the years. "There's been some fairly big names perform here," he said, stopping the tour in front of an old door. "This building used to be the town jail," he said, swinging open a bar-laden door. "It'd be ideal to make it a coat room or something; now it's just a garbage room." improve the dressin today's productions. The next stop is at the bottom of the grand staircase where Mr. Arrigo says he would like to start his second part of the project. "This is step number-two: The main entrance. I'd love to strip all the stuff off these walls and get the wood back to its natural beauty." While working on the main entrance of the building, he says he would like to see it livened up at bit. "This is the part Be BOR Se y oh R Sagtl ER A a ThE Far oo PETES AER | s SN i aa : egos rin ASS Sai dA 3 a¥x Sal Arrigo, a director on the board of Town Hall 1873, worn stairs of the hall located at the corner of Queen and Simcoe St., Port Perry. Mr. Arrigo is heading up efforts to refurbish the hall and g rooms and other areas which are inadquate for where most people come in and it looks dull. IT want to get some broadloom in here; maybe get some red carpeting on the stairs." The last leg of the trek ended in the main theatre part of the Town Hall, where he pointed high up the walls of the large, open room to where you could make out the shapes of old windows more than 12 feet in height covered by wood. "Those," he said pointing out each one Town Hall 1873 facelift individually," are the windows. It's atro- cious really; they're such large beautiful windows but they are all boarded up." According to Mr. Arrigo, he wants to see the wood slats covering the windows removed and replaced by theatre curtains which, when needed, could block off out- side light completely. Leaning against a railing and survey- ing the room, Mr. Arrigo acknowledges it won't be easy, or cheap. Y "I got the approval from } the board to make these '4 changes; these improve- ments. We're estimating them to be in the $20,000 to $25,000 area. Hey, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here, I'm just trying to stop it from squeaking." While he's not sure how he's going to go about rais- ing the funds, he says he is going to try to use the building's 125th anniver- sary as a marketing tool. "There's about 200 seats and if people paid $125 per seat because of the anniversary then we could raise some money that way. We'd put a plaque on each individual seat to recognize the donor. "Anyone who wants to give money or time will also be recognized as well with a plaque on the wall." 2 When asked if he thought that making these changes might change the atmosphere of the old building, Mr. Arrigo quickly shrugged off that suggestion. "This is a really nice place, a good place. It just needs its face washed and its hair combed a bit. Just a few touch-ups," he said. "Some people are embarrassed to bring oth- ers here so we're trying to change that. We're not taking anything away from the hall, we're adding to it." If anyone wants more information or to help out they can call Sal Arrigo at 985- 3605 or the Town Hall at 985-8181. Donations can be made by cheque -- marked Town Hall Renovation Project -- and mailed to Town Hall (1873), 302 Queen St., Port Perry, ON, LIL 1J9. All donations are tax deductible and receipts will be issued. PE & sits on the The War Amps is proud to recognize Port Perry resi- ~ dents Jocelyn Hunt and Kimberly Rankin, members of ~ the Association's Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program, ~ who joined its Playsafe/Drivesafe float in Barrie's Santa Claus Parade this winter for the first time. Jocelyn, nine, was born missing part of her right » hand and Kimberly, also nine, was born missing part of her left arm. As Champs, they participate in CHAMP Seminars, which provide an opportunity to meet other _ child amputees, share concerns, see the latest develop- cial limbs d develop a winnr's hil Var Amps salutes "safety ambassadors" recreational limbs like Jocelyn's adaptive device which allows her to enjoy horseback riding and Kimberly's sports arm. Meeting other CHAMP members, some of whom have lost limbs in accidents, they have learned the importance of safety at all times and were honored to be War Amps "Safety Ambassadors." The War Amps is funded solely through public sup- port of the Key Tag and Address Label Service, and . receives no government grants. Key tags will be mailed to residents across Ontario next month. For more information, : wim Amps www 5 34. Saad . "11 "1 0 Nd A ! "MCC AO! access The Warm Amps on the PLAVSAEL |