The Grand Theater in Knoxville is expected to open back up in a matter of days after the new screens were installed Thursday night.

The theater suffered thousands of dollars of water damage over the summer and many volunteers have been working diligently to get it back up and running over the last several months. During the last week of July, a construction company started working on roof repairs at the theater, and on one of the days Knoxville experienced severe weather and heavy rainfall. The tarp that was placed over the hole on the roof blew off and it rained heavily inside the building for several hours.

The theater is still working out details with their insurance and are working with an attorney out of Des Moines regarding legal action against the construction company who was working on the roof at the time of the rain. The theater has repainted the floor, cleaned all the seats, changed out over 500 ceiling tiles, dried out the whole building, and done many other projects as part of the clean up efforts. Grand Theater Foundation President Curt Schwanebeck who has spent hundreds of hours on the clean up says he is thankful for everyone who has made the clean up possible. Schwanebeck says it is possible they could open as soon as this weekend and even after they open the clean up effort will still be ongoing.

“There are going to be a lot of things in the theater that are not finished yet, but nothing that pertains to projecting a good image and good sound. It’s all the decorating and there are walls that still need to be painted and stuff. We’ll get there.”

Stay tuned to KNIA/KRLS regarding an opening day for the Grand Theater.