The Garland Theater's new website is live, and tickets are on sale for its reopening weekend

Roberta Simonson, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Updated ·2 min read

Feb. 19—The Garland Theater's new website is live.

The Garland's website launch comes a few weeks after the theater, which sold to new owners late last year and has been closed, announced it would be reopening March 1.

"WEBSITE IS LIVE!!!" the Garland Theater announced on its Facebook page Monday. Two hours later, 170 tickets had been sold.

Long-awaiting customers can now purchase tickets to the Spokane classic "Benny & Joon," which will have showtimes throughout opening weekend, at garlandtheater.org/showtimes.

Instead of remodeling the website, owners Tyler Arnold and Chris Bovey decided to start fresh.

"We wanted to simplify and streamline the site," Bovey said.

When selecting movies for the Garland's opening, Bovey and Arnold left it up to the community.

"We put it out to the people, what they wanted to see, and a lot of people were saying local movies," he said. "That's just a way to say to Spokane, 'Hey, we're listening. This is your theater.' "

Another local movie featured will be "Spokanarchy," a documentary about the punk music scene in the city during the 1980s.

Bovey said the theater is hoping to also show Spokane-centric films "Vision Quest," "Dreamin' Wild," "Smoke Signals" and others, including local premieres.

Tickets to most movies, "Benny & Joon" included, are $5, Bovey said, but special event prices, like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," will cost more. Some movies, such as this month's showing of "The Iron Giant," are free.

Otherwise, customers can purchase a $5 membership at concessions, good for admission to Sunday shows for a year.

Pins, T-shirts and stickers featuring the Garland's new mascot, a grinning and glasses-wearing box of popcorn, will be on sale in the lobby of the Garland Theater opening weekend.

"His name's PG," Bovey said of the mascot, short for Popcorn Guy.

At this point, the Garland Theater will only be open Friday through Sunday, but that could change.

"The rest of the week we're open for events, but if we start building up popularity and start selling out those weekends, then we'll consider adding more days during the week," Bovey said.

Roberta Simonson's reporting is part of the Teen Journalism Institute, funded by Bank of America with support from the Innovia Foundation.