The Holland Theatre lit its magnificent new marquee Saturday evening, July 26, for an enthusiastic crowd gathered along east Columbus Avenue, who cheered when donor Tonia Terebuh gave the command, “Q, let’s light up the Holland!” signaling the theater’s technical director Quinten James to hit the switch.
The celebratory evening brought together numerous community members, many generous donors and several of the “Save the Holland” former Bellefontaine Middle School students (now adults) who worked hard in the late 1990s, alongside their teacher Kris Swisher, to bring attention to the significance of the nation’s only Dutch atmospheric theater, which first opened in 1931.
Those youngsters’ rallying cry sparked a huge turning point for the theater, which had closed and fallen into disrepair at that time. Many passionate volunteers and donors have since stepped up, and the theater’s restoration effort began in earnest in 2000.
Now about 27 years later since they started their initial project, the former BMS classmates said seeing the Holland’s restoration and bringing back the historic marquee was “unbelievable.”
“It’s hard to put into words; it’s almost like going back in time,” said Kimberly Wiley, who works at Walt Disney World and traveled from her home in Kissimmee, Fla., to attend the celebration. “This is what you’d see in the black and white photos when we did our research about the theater.
“It’s such a testament to the dedication of our community and what we can accomplish together.
“This is so different than other projects you might tackle in school, as it’s going to have such a lasting impact. I didn’t want to miss this celebration.”
Joining together with Wiley at the marquee’s lighting were fellow former sixth-grade classmates Alicia Watkins of DeGraff, Ashley James Digby of Athens; and Justin Morris of Huntsville, each of whom were members of Swisher’s gifted class at BMS.
As president of the theater board, their now-retired teacher has kept that passionate and hands-on approach going through her servant leadership. She has guided the theater through the past several decades’ worth of restoration projects, leading to Saturday’s important new chapter for the venue and restoring the outside to its 1931 glory.
“We all stand tall when we’re on the shoulders of giants,” Swisher said, with a few tears in her eyes, when she was called on stage to accept a gift of flowers as a “thank you” from Terebuh at the donor dinner that proceeded the lighting. The donors inside the theater quickly popped to their feet to give Swisher a standing ovation.
“All of you care so much about this facility. This was a mess when we started. But we stuck with it.”
The original marquee was a striking feature of the theater when it opened in 1931 and the decades that followed. The blade was removed in the 1950s due to city code changes, and the rest of the marquee was removed in the 1960s due to street expansion and traffic.
The new marquee was built and installed by Wagner Electric Sign Co. of Elyria to combine grandeur of the past with the latest in LED technology. The horizontal portion of the marquee was installed in late April, and the approximately 33-feet-long vertical blade was hoisted into place in late June.
Back in November 2022, the Holland board kicked off a campaign to bring back the theatre’s iconic marquee. The theater had been selected for a matching grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation, in which the foundation had offered a $220,000 grant for the marquee if $440,000 in local donations and pledges could be raised.
While the capital campaign was expected to last three years, donors quickly stepped up to the plate and it was completed in less than a year.
“This is one of the best projects in the history of the foundation,” Thomas Jeffris, the foundation’s president, said in a previous Examiner article. “Special thanks to Kris Swisher, who did a great job.”
This is the second time the Holland has worked with the Jeffris Family Foundation, based in Janesville, Wis., which also played a major role in the theater’s interior restoration project completed in 2019.
Josh Dubbert from the Jeffris Family Foundation attended the donor dinner and expressed his congratulations to the theater on the new marquee, which he said, “knits everything back into place” for the historic venue.
He also passed along gifts from Thomas Jeffris to Swisher and fellow longtime Holland representatives Suzanne Dennis and Linda MacGillivray, thanking them for visiting Jeffris in Wisconsin and pitching the marquee project to him.
Relating to the marquee campaign, the theater’s interim director Jason Vogel noted that Mrs. Terebuh and her family helped to kick off the marquee quest into high gear in the early days of the campaign with her pledge of $100,000.
Mrs. Terebuh, who’s originally from the Netherlands, said she grew to love the Logan County area and, specifically, the Holland thanks to how it reminded her of her home country.
During the 1960s, she and her husband visited various towns in Ohio, trying to determine where they wanted to settle, and the Holland Theatre immediately captured her attention. Mrs. Terebuh stated with a laugh that she initially though it was a “little Dutch house,” before she learned it was a theater.
“I’ve always felt so grateful to the community,” she said, noting it’s where she’s been able to watch her family grow from four children to now 12 grandchildren, a number of whom were in attendance Saturday night.
The Laird A. Lile Family Charitable Foundation in Honor of Levi W. and Nancy Nicholl Lile also donated $100,000 to the marquee project. Nancy Lile attended the donor reception, alongside two of her grandchildren, Langdon and Allie Lile.
A 1954 Bellefontaine High School graduate, Mrs. Lile said attending movies at the Holland Theatre was mainstay of during her childhood and teenage years. She even served as a ticket taker at the theater the summer prior to beginning college in 1954
“The Holland was the center of entertainment in town. We were here all the time to see movies on the weekends,” she recalled.
“The marquee is beautiful, just beautiful, and we’re thrilled to be a part of this project.”
In honor of these two local families and the mark they’ve made on the theater, the initials “L” for Lile and “T” for Terebuh are located at the very top of the vertical blade, with an “L” on the one side and a “T” on the other side.
Pledging $20,000 each were Citizens Federal, Logan County Commissioners, Mary Rutan Health, Harold and Barbara Marker Charitable Trust, Jason and Ann Vogel, Randy and Teresa Marker, and the Regan, Riley, Jamie and Chad Ross Family.
Dozens of additional businesses and individuals also gave generously to make the project possible. Many community members gave in honor or memory of relatives or friends by donating $100 for a lightbulb. A comedy show featuring an appearance from Dave Chappelle, who donated his time, also brought in funds.
Now with the new marquee in place, setting aglow the theater and brightening Bellefontaine’s cityscape, the Holland will be home to a variety of lively new shows and entertainment in the newly announced upcoming fall 2025 season. Visit https://theholland.org/ for more details.
