W.A. Gayle Planetarium set to reopen in August under the Montgomery Zoo

The W.A. Gayle Planetarium will reopen in August with a change in management.

The Montgomery Zoo will take over operations at the planetarium from Troy University, which managed the attraction for nearly 50 years until COVID wreaked havoc on visitor numbers and operations.

Troy received a contract fee from the city, as well as entrance fees and private donations for special projects over the years. It is now transitioning the planetarium's financial responsibilities to the City of Montgomery.

Rick Evans, the longtime planetarium director, came out of retirement to oversee the transition. He announced the changes on the planetarium’s Facebook account.

The planetarium was built in 1968 and opened the next year as the W.A. Gayle Planetarium, named for former Montgomery Mayor William A. Gayle. It is located in Oak Park.

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Evans said Troy did everything it could to keep it open during the first two years of the pandemic.

“But at a loss,” Evans said. “We got no outside funding other than, you know, the city paid a contract fee. But other than that there was no funding to support a planetarium.”

The planetarium earns money in part from schools that tour the facility during the school year, but the pandemic closed schools and kept visitors away.

Evans met with Mayor Steven Reed in August 2021 and offered to run the planetarium until the end of the school year to allow the city time to transition to full ownership and operations. That work continues.

“What I’m doing right now is getting all of the infrastructure rebuilt, " Evans said. "The internet needs to be switched over to the city network, and you know, it's the little things, like what deposit account does money need to go in? All of those things have to be rebuilt in order to get it back up and running."

The planetarium will not only be back under the city but it will be run in conjunction with the Montgomery Zoo.

"I feel it's going to be a win-win for the Zoo and the planetarium," said Marcia Woodard, Montgomery Zoo director. "We're both in the business of entertainment, and now we'll be able to collaborate in the same market, and a larger budget for marketing and advertising for the planetarium will help to grow its reach."

Evans echoed this sentiment.

"The problem with the planetarium is, it's a wonderful asset to the city, but where it is there's no foot traffic," Evans said. "You're not near anything else. So let's say you're downtown at the Rosa Parks Museum. Now you have to load up and drive 20 or 30 minutes to the planetarium."

Now that the city will own it, he thinks they'll be more invested in helping it to succeed.

"Advertising it, putting up street signage," Evans said. "When it was contracted to the university, it kind of fell between the cracks between the university and the city — who was going to do what? So I think it's a positive for it to go/ to the city, I think it's going to be committed to making it better."

More details about the reopening will be released on the W.A. Gayle Planetarium Facebook page.

Destini Ambus is a news intern for the Montgomery Advertiser. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery's W.A. Gayle Planetarium set to reopen in August