Toccoa Gets Grant for Schaefer Center Marquee

Efforts to recreate and re-install the historic Schaefer Center marquee in downtown Toccoa are about to really ramp up.

At Thursday’s Main Street Awards at the Schaefer Center, Fox Theatre Institute representatives were on hand to present the city of Toccoa with a grant check of $46,295 to be used to help fund the marquee installation.

Fox Theatre Institute Director Carmie McDonald said they have worked well with Toccoa in the past on projects at the Schaefer Center and wanted to continue helping to renovate the historic building.

“Three years ago, we worked with the Schaefer Center and commissioned a historic preservation plan to incorporate all of the facets of the restoration of the theater and at that time, we identified the Schaefer Center as a really strong candidate for future funding,” said McDonald. “When it got to the point where they wanted to restore the marquee, we knew they had been great stewards of the funding in the past and we wanted to recognize the contributions not only to the theater but to the city as a whole.”

The Fox Theatre Institute started in 2008 to provide operations and preservation advice to revitalize communities, one theatre at a time.

Since its inception, the Institute has awarded more than $360,000 in grants to theatres across the state.

McDonald said recreating and constructing a new marquee for the Schaefer Center can help the building grow even more and be a vital part of Toccoa’s future.

“It is wonderful and it is so good to see it full of people tonight,” said McDonald. “We have enjoyed keeping tabs on all the programs and all the ways this is used to serve the community. We feel, that just like the Fox is the heart of Atlanta, so is the Schaefer Center to Toccoa.”

Toccoa Main Street Director Connie Tabor said the city is excited to have the Fox Theatre Institute on hand to announce the grant award in person.

Tabor said the marquee is an important project for the Schaefer Center.

“We think that will bring a lot of vitality back to this block,” said Tabor.

The marquee will be constructed just like it was in the 1940s.

City officials said that the grant requires a dollar-for-dollar match by the city.

Officials went on to say that the grant requires the marquee to be up at the Schaefer Center by June 30th.

Also at Thursday’s Main Street Awards, the city announced that Georgia Power would donate the work to move power lines in order to put the marquee.

The cost of that work was estimated at $20,000.