Landing renovation money

Libraries are an essential element in the fabric of any community, and that’s certainly the case with the Augusta County Library in Fishersville. So it’s good news that bids on a proposed renovation there came in dramatically lower than the estimated cost of $2.4 million.

It may be observed that the Wayne Theatre, that epicenter of local political unease, persists in standing, its shiny new façade overlooking West Main Street in Waynesboro. This evidently is the product of something otherworldly, since by now the old brick edifice should have crumbled to mortar and dust.

Weather holds, façade debuts

With much still to do, Wayne Theatre façade makes debut

Through summer’s sleepy days, the Waynesboro City Council has been an island of languor in a sea of monotony. Blades of grass are more restive than most council officials. But ennui has lifted. Once-familiar acrimony has been roused over the absence of activity on the streets outside the stretch of West Main running between the Wayne Theatre and the aging building formerly known as the home of The News Virginian.

With façade work on track to be completed on the Wayne Theatre by mid-April, the Wayne Theatre Alliance is hoping to secure the extra money it needs to begin construction on its interior by June and be open within 18 months.

Bill Hausrath gazes upon a vacant structure on West Main Street and sees the Waynesboro of his youth and the one of succeeding generations, a hub of life in a place where most of life’s energy has migrated slightly west.

City Council’s reluctance to invest could affect fundraising, project leaders say