CODY — The iconic facade of the Cody Theater is in need of a serious renovation. This is because if the cables were not installed, the marquee would fall off the face of the building.

The owners of the historic building have already planned structural repairs, but the repair is more complex and will require permits from the city of Cody and the state of Wyoming.

The neon-lit tent had been a staple of Cody’s Main Street for years, but it was quickly collapsing forward. It is supported by temporary measures, but serious structural work is needed to get it back on its feet and become safe.

“After close to 100 years, the interior scaffolding began to deteriorate,” said Ryan Fernandez, owner of the Cody Theatre. “But we believe this is a repair and restoration so it will be safe and secure for the next 100-plus years.”

Time is Paid

Ryan and Elizabeth Fernandez purchased the 87-year-old Cody Theater in 2019. While preserving the history of the place, they also invested significantly in its improvement. Oldest air conditioning unit in Wyoming.

Even in 2019 the marquee was showing signs of its age.

“We definitely noticed there was a weird sag in the front end,” Ryan Fernandez told Cowboy State Daily. “When we got to the top and looked at the structure, everything looked safe and good. We just assumed it was built that way and settled over time. However, as this year progressed, we started to see more sagging.”

Ryan suspects that the interior structure of the tent is mostly wood, covered with metal and lots of tar and other materials. Over time, it slowly began to collapse under its own weight.

The good news was that the building was structurally sound, so cables could be run to the mounting points of the walls to prevent the tent from sagging further.

“The most important part was realizing that the connection points in the building were not compromised,” Fernandez said. “We were able to lift the frame with securing ropes and secure it until we could find a more permanent solution.”

This is where repair and restoration becomes more complex.

City and State

The Cody Theater was built next to Sheridan Boulevard, Cody’s main street. This street is also US Highway 14A, the main road to the Eastern Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

Repairing the Cody Theater frame requires permits from the city of Cody and the state of Wyoming.

“When it comes to structural integrity, this is a city issue,” Fernandez said. “Since we are on the Wyoming highway, we need permission from both sides to start looking.”

There are several parking spaces in front of the Cody Theater on Sheridan Boulevard. These areas will need to be cordoned off during repairs, so the state must give permission for the operation.

Fernandez said the permitting process was slow and he found it enlightening and reassuring.

“The city inspectors were very attentive and communicative,” he said. “They told us that citizens called and questioned the situation with the tent, I think this is a good thing. “It makes people feel empowered, and we should be empowered and concerned about these issues.”

Fernandez experiences the seriousness of the city of Cody, which wants to see the Cody Theater marquee safely restored, and the “cut-and-dry” approach of the state of Wyoming, which wants to ensure everything is done to the highest safety standards. It’s a slow process, but Fernandez doesn’t see that as a bad thing.

“You always hope things move faster, but that’s not always realistic,” he said. “It takes time for the process to move forward. We have a problem that needs to be solved, and the state wants a plan and a structural engineer, and I think we can do it efficiently.”

The show must go on

Once everything is cleared, Fernandez said the first step will be to open the Cody Theater’s tent and determine what happened to its internal structure. From there, they can develop a plan to repair and restore the tent.

“We will have to introduce the top,” he said. “We need to go through all these layers of roofing and get to what the problem is. “And once we achieve that, it will be pretty easy to develop the restoration plan.”

Anchor cables will keep the frame stable throughout the process. Fernandez hopes that its interior structure can be recreated and restored without having to remove it from the building and “start from scratch.”

It’s too early to know how long the process will take or when it will be completed, but Fernandez has a firm deadline. Tickets are now on sale for the Summer 2025 season of “Wild West Show,” the original musical created by Elizabeth Fernandez and staged at the Cody Theatre.

“We want to complete and finish everything by the summer season,” he said. “That’s our goal.”

The “Wild West Show” runs for six nights from late June to early August. The series will begin its tenth consecutive season on June 18, 2025.

“We definitely don’t want to deal with that anniversary season,” Fernandez said.

Enhanced, Not Upgraded

A fundraiser was set up Help cover the cost of repairs and restoration of the Cody Theater marquee. The process presents an opportunity to improve the building’s iconic facade, but Fernandez said some things are best as they are.

“We get a lot of feedback from people saying they love the nostalgic feel of an old cinema marquee,” he said. “This is empowering for us because it is important to us to maintain and preserve the look and feel of the Cody Theatre.”

Since purchasing the Cody Theater, the Fernandez family has modernized the structure while preserving its historic Art Deco charm. But they had already considered adding 21st-century improvements to the frame, such as LED lights and displays, and rejected them.

“We spent a lot of time and money working on the theater’s electrical and water systems and everything else you can’t see,” he said. “Everyone can see the bezel, and we’re looking at LEDs and different types of displays, but we’re moving away from that. Not from a cost standpoint, but from a standpoint that we’ll lose what’s available.”

Fernandez plans to replace the existing lighting and replace some of the signage on the tent to make it more visible and impressive at night. Meanwhile, the original neon lights and manually replaced bubble letters will remain as is.

When the repair and restoration is finished, it will look like nothing has changed. This is how it should be for Fernandez.

“The Cody Theater has been an important part of downtown Cody for a very long time,” he said. “It was an important part of my life growing up. Liz and I felt compelled to buy and repair it to make it better, safer, and cleaner, but we didn’t replace it. “We don’t want to lose what the framework is and what it represents for the Cody Theatre, downtown Cody and the Bighorn Basin.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at [email protected].