feature
“ITS HISTORY IS OUR HISTORY”
CELEBRATING THE AVALON’S CENTENNIAL Words by Stephen Doyle | Photos courtesy of The Avalon Theatre
THE EARLY YEARS
O
n January 23, 1922, Walter Walker, the
compared to roads, housing, rail lines, sanitation,
owner, editor and publisher of The Sentinel,
schools, hospitals and water projects, the citizens
conveyed a bold vision to his readership for an,
of Grand Junction surely would not have listed a
as yet, unnamed theatre: “The new auditorium
modern theatre house among the top 10 things
would handle the finest road shows, the big
missing in their lives!
artists, concert companies, the big feature
64
of 10,000, this was indeed a bold vision. When
Despite formidable odds, Walter Walker
movies, conventions, chautauquas, big indoor
channeled
athletic events, large banquets, private dances
persuasion, his passion for Grand Junction and a
and other attractions and gatherings …” For
good bit of his ego into rallying investors — large
a town that had not yet reached a population
and small — around his proposed project. By
his
newspaper,
his
powers
of
