Eastern Iowa theater closed due to smoke damage

TRAER, Iowa (AP) - An eastern Iowa nonprofit theater has been forced to close because of smoke damage from a fire in a neighboring building.

The Traer Theatre has shut its doors until further notice following a downtown fire Tuesday at a flower shop next door. KCRG-TV reported (http://bit.ly/155dmSH ). Smoke from the fire seeped into the theater through a shared brick wall, leaving the air in the 144-seat facility heavy with smoke and surfaces and electronics tarnished by soot.

Traer Theatre board president Jon Panfil said the building's upper level, where the smoke was thickest, experienced the worst of the damage. Employees also had to throw away the theater's stock of concessions and toiletries. But Panfil said soot that found its way inside a three-year-old, $60,000 digital projector is his main concern.

Cleaning crews have told Panfil they believe cleanup should take no more than a couple of weeks, as the smoky smell can be removed without reupholstering chairs and walls. Panfil said the theater's reopening, then, depends largely on whether the projector can simply be cleaned or needs replacing.

The Traer Theatre is a community-based movie theater remodeled and reopened in 2006 to bring movie-going back to the rural Iowa town. Panfil said volunteers and contractors came in to renovate the building and create a community space after it had been shut down for several years. It had previously served as a movie theater run by the chamber of commerce.